ABSTRACT
Development aid programmes in the field of reproductive health aim at improving the health situation of the population, concerning, for example, sexual reproduction, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and mother-child health. These programmes also target issues of gender inequality because they promote the empowerment of women in choosing freely about whether and when to have children, or how many. However, in this chapter we argue that development aid interventions in the field of reproductive health produce paradoxical outcomes in societies such as Cambodia, given that internationally funded health programmes reinforce local understandings and traditions of gender relations and health in Cambodia.1
