March 14, 2006

UN's FAO provides bird flu assistance to Myanmar

The UN agriculture agency has provided emergency assistance to Myanmar after the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus was detected for the first time in the impoverished Southeast-Asian country, an official said Tuesday.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation provided US$40,000 worth of assistance, including protective gear and laboratory facilities, said Tang Zhengping, resident representative of the FAO.

"The government needs support from UN agencies and the international community, and we will seek more donors for the funding," Tang said.

FAO and government officials on Monday said the H5N1 outbreak was found after 112 chickens died outside of Myanmar's second largest city, Mandalay.

Nearly 800 chickens have been slaughtered as a precaution, and experts were inspecting farms within a 3-km radius of where the infected birds were found, said Than Tun, director of the country's livestock breeding and veterinary department. He pledged that authorities would deal with any outbreak in a "transparent manner."

Myanmar's military government, which tightly controls information and the state-owned mass media, has said it would deal openly with any outbreaks of bird flu.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed or forced the slaughter of tens of millions of poultry across Asia since 2003, and has recently spread to Europe, Africa and the Middle East.