January 5, 2009
FAO picks Nam Dinh province for Vietnam's SMS bird flu control project
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has chosen the northern province of Nam Dinh to initiate the agency's pilot project on collecting bird flu information through SMS, according to Ninh Van Hieu, head of the provincial Veterinary Sub-Department.
The mobile phone service project is seen to quickly establish data on affected areas, the number of dead poultry and epidemic situation in the province.
It is also expected to facilitate the zoning off, control and prevention of the outbreak.
Training is now underway in using SMS for 45 heads of communal veterinary stations from Nam Truc and Nghia Hung districts, which are home to many poultry farms and slaughter-houses.
Nam Dinh has 7.9 million poultry heads, including 5.8 million chickens. Bird flu occurred repeatedly in the province for the past four years, adversely affecting the economy, production and people's health.
So far, the province has reported two human deaths caused by H5N1 virus.
Around 25 communities in six districts of Nam Dinh had bird flu outbreaks between May 17 and June 5, 2007 and over 31,000 poultry heads died or were culled.
