At this very moment. over 3 million people are starving to death in Cambodia. Famine and epidemic have begun their own sweep throughout the country. According to the Indochina Refugee Action Center. it is estimated that of the "8 million Cambodians in 1970. only 4.7 million survived the decade of war and the Pol Pot holocaust." Of those remaining. as many as 2 to 3 million are dying of starvation. There are reports that as many as 200.000 people are dying monthly. with hundreds of thousands suffering from malnutrition and diseases such as malaria. Children do not have the energy to cry. In Phnom Penh. officials of the Heng Samrin regime reluctantly conceeded that Cambodians faced "extreme hunger." In testimony given to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs by the American Friends Service. it was stated thatOver 5 years ago. there were 500 doctors. now only 58 have been identified. mostly old. who have not practiced for 4 years. If they seek books. they find the medical school library ransacked and useless. With the proper food and medical care. it is possible for some of the adults in the refugee camps to recover. However. with the infrastructure of transport and communication destroyed. most relief efforts have been hampered up to this time and it is hoped that this situation will change for the better. Even if all food and medicine were readily available. most Cambodians are so weak that they are unable to load and unload relief shipments.
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Refugee refugee