February 16, 2004

 

 

Vietnam Warned Against Resuming Poultry Trade Early

 

The United Nations issued a warning against Vietnam resuming its poultry trade too early ahead of concerns over bird flu.

 

Vietnam, the worst hit of 10 Asian nations affected by bird flu, with 14 people dead and 35 million chickens culled, imposed a ban on the trade and transport of poultry on February 5.

 

But while saying it will destroy as many fowl as necessary to contain the disease, Hanoi is already thinking about when to re-introduce poultry sales and how to help the devastated industry pick up operations.

 

Officials have already submitted a proposal to the Agriculture Ministry to authorise the sale of chicken meat in non-contaminated zones.

 

"To my knowledge, chicken sales will only be allowed after the epidemic is completely eliminated from the country. The government has indicated its determination to achieve that before the end of the month," said Mr Pham Ngoc Dinh, deputy director of the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Hanoi.

 

On Friday, Vice-Minister of Agriculture and Development Bui Ba Bong said it would be premature to allow sales.

 

"But I hope the chicken trade will be able to start again in early March," he said in his ministry's daily newspaper, the Nong Thon Ngay Nay.

 

"We have already started working on a plan to restore our livestock breeding instead of waiting for the epidemic to stop to do it," said Mr Truong Van Dung, head of the National Institute for Veterinary Research.

 

"Right now, we are trying our best to stop the epidemic in February to be able to start recovering our livestock breeding in the next few months. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Bank have promised to support us in building a stronger veterinary system."

 

However, UN health agencies are taking the comments as a sign that Vietnam is not facing up to reality.

 

Many experts believe the virus can survive in the atmosphere for several weeks. A premature return to production and trading would risk a resurgence of the disease.

 

"It is a little early," said Ms Maria Cheng, Hanoi spokesman for the World Health Organisation.

 

"We believe the outbreak won't be contained for several months, probably years."

On Friday, the World Bank indicated it was ready to lend US$10 million (S$16.9 million) to Vietnam, notably for building "a system to make sure, should it happen again, that it could have a better response".

 

But the FAO said this 'medium-term' aid would only allow Vietnam to set up the first phase of re-introducing production.

 

"We are right now only starting the engine to control the outbreak," said local FAO representative Anton Rychener.

 

"The government does not even know who are those who lost their chickens. We are now trying to get a database to see what can be done in terms of compensation."

 

While the Vietnamese authorities try to convince people they reacted properly to tackle the disease, one UN observer warned that Vietnam's announcement of an early lifting of the bird-trade ban was a 'political' one designed to reassure industry and the public.