04/02/2004

UN offers 'bird flu' countries $1.6m aid package

The four Asian countries most seriously effected by the recent outbreak of avian influenza or 'bird flu' are set to receive $1.6 million in UN funding to help them battle the virus, it has been announced today.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that it was offering the emergency package to Cambodia, Laos, Pakistan and Viet Nam following requests to improve their emergency disease control and surveillance systems.

He Changchui, head of the FAO’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, said the aid would be sent "immediately".

“More international assistance is needed to enable poorer countries to better deal with the crisis,” he said.

At least 13 people have died in Viet Nam and Thailand as a result of contracting the H5N1 virus strain in the current outbreak. Millions of domestic birds have died or been slaughtered in the Republic of Korea, Viet Nam, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, China, Laos and Indonesia since December.

The aid package will be used to prepare a zoning plan for culling birds, train farmers and government workers on safe disposal and disinfection, provide protective gear, equipment and laboratory supplies, make rapid diagnoses, and begin national epidemiological studies of the disease.

Meanwhile at FAO headquarters in Rome, health and veterinary experts have concluded a two-day meeting on the outbreak organized by the FAO, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Animal Health Organization.

(gmcg)

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