Experts praise Vietnam's bird flu fight, warn of risks
HANOI - International health experts praised Vietnam for containing bird flu but cautioned against complacency as the country moves from its emergency response into the prevention phase.
"Vietnam has made remarkable progress, going from being the worst affected to having contained it," said World Health Organisation (WHO) representative Dr Hans Troedsson, at the end of a 10-day mission.
Vietnam has had the worst human toll in the world with 93 people infected and 42 dead since the first poultry outbreak in late 2003.
Vietnam, long ground zero of the deadly disease, has seen no new outbreaks in more than four months and no human infections in over half a year, but Troedsson warned that the danger is far from over.
"The concerns of course are that, since Vietnam is doing so well, that this could create a false sense of security and complacency," he warned. "The country is disease-free but not virus-free.
"If we drop our guard now and think we're safe, that would be very wrong."
At the peak of the epidemic in early 2004, almost one quarter of the country's communes and 60 percent of towns were affected. The economic impact amounted to half a percent of gross domestic product.
The communist government responded by culling over 50 million birds, closing live bird markets, vaccinating millions of chicken and ducks, and stepping up medical and veterinary health services.
In January, donors at an international bird flu conference in Beijing pledged 1.9 billion dollars to fight the global threat, and Vietnam has since worked on a medium- to long-term national action plan.
It calls for strengthening human and veterinary health services, stockpiling drugs, fighting poultry outbreaks with targeted vaccinations, and a market-driven restructuring of the poultry sector.
Vietnam will present the plan at a Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting on bird flu in the central city of Danang on May 4 and 5.
Twelve international agencies, including the
World Bank, WHO and other UN agencies, as well as donor countries, have over the past 10 days assessed the plan and Vietnam's progress.
Vietnam, which has received about 50 million dollars in aid, loans and credits to fight bird flu so far, is proposing a 2006-2010 plan worth 400 million to 500 million dollars.
"We still don't have a clear figure," said the World Bank's rural sector coordinator in Vietnam, Laurent Msellati. "We're looking at what are the immediate needs and priorities in terms of funding."
Troedsson said the plan would be "in the range of 50 million to 100 million dollars a year, both for the agriculture and the human health side. Fifty percent of that is coming from the Vietnamese government."
Msellati said the private sector would take a key role as modern and hygienic poultry facilities would gradually replace traditional backyard farms where the risk of infection is highest.
"We are seeing already... a lot of private sector operators moving into improving their own biosecurity," said Msellati.
"The (Vietnamese) leaders are looking at the impact on the pure animal and human health issue, but also at the impact of restructuring the poultry industry... the consequences on small holders and environmental consequences."
Troedsson said Vietnam's main challenge now was to strengthen public awareness about the virus.
"There are still people who don't know how to protect themselves," he said. "They still don't know that they sometimes expose themselves to the risk."
Agence France Presse - April 28, 2006.
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