February 16, 2005

 

 

Vietnam bans poultry raising to combat bird flu

 

Vietnam is accelerating the process of slaughtering poultry, and boosting international cooperation to deal with bird flu, which has killed and led to the forced culling of over 1.5 million fowls in its 35 cities and provinces since January.

 

In Ho Chi Minh City, all chicken and waterfowl raised between February 12 and December 31. will be put to the slaughter. Poultry raising has been banned in the southern city this year in order to limit the risk of the transmission of bird flu to humans.

 

Deputy chairman of the city's People's Committee, Nguyen Thien Nhan, declared that as of February 14, small households raising chickens in 11 districts inside the city must slaughter their chickens or hand them over after registering with the animal health department.

 

A similar decision had already been taken for ducks earlier this year. Those who do not comply will the new ruling not be eligible for later government support.

 

The local authorities have been called upon to cull all the city's poultry and waterfowl between February 18 and the end of 2005.

 

Vietnam declared last October that it had brought its latest outbreak of avian influenza under control. It first made such an announcement in March 2004 but had to admit later that the declaration had been premature.

 

The Ministry of Agriculture has decided not to have any official announcement of the end to the current bird flu epidemic which returned to the country in late 2004.

 

Hoang Van Nam, Head of the Ministry's epidemiology department, referred to the current outbreak as "a continuation of the bird flu which hit Vietnam since late 2003."

 

Vietnam now is seeking international assistance for its anti-bird flu efforts. Several experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) will arrive in the country next week to probe into the bird flu virus H5N1 and a vaccine against the disease for people, according to Vietnam's National Hygiene and Epidemiology Institute.

 

Experts say avian influenza has entrenched itself in much of Asia and is unlikely to disappear soon.

 

Since the start of the latest outbreak, more than 1.5 million birds have been killed by the disease or destroyed to try to stop the spread of the H5N1 strain of bird flu.

 

A regional meeting discussing the fight against the virus will be held in Ho Chi Minh City from February 23 to 25, under the sponsorship of the United Nations' FAO and the World Organisation for Animal Health.