Prime Minister Phan Van Khai has called for concerted efforts to effectively fight bird flu, threatening to break out on poultry and humans.

Veterinarians in Vinh City, in the central Nghe An Province, vaccinate poultry against bird flu.

In a directive issued on Saturday, the Prime Minister asked concerned ministries and sectors to complete an urgent action plan for preventing and controlling the bird flu outbreak.

The plan, after receiving the Government's approval, should be given the highest priority and carried out immediately, PM Khai said.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the Ministry of Health (MoH), the National Steering Board for Bird Flu Control and the National Steering Committee for Preventing and Controlling SARS and Human Flu have been given the charge to draft the plan.

They were also asked to gather ideas from the Party Central Committee's Secretariat, the National Assembly's Standing Committee and Vietnam Fatherland Front's Central Committee.

Based on the approved urgent action programme, ministries, agencies and localities should work out their own plans to prevent an outbreak or mitigate damages if the disease spreads, the directive stated. The PM also asked MARD and MoH to outline a plan to disseminate the urgent action plan.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture and Information, in collaboration with the Party Central Committee's Commission for Culture and Ideology as well other ministries, were asked to guide mass media help raise awareness of the public about the avian flu for making preventive measures effective. "The ministries have to provide accurate and speedy information," the directive said.

MARD was asked to work with localities to temporarily restrain poultry breeding in risky areas and assist poultry farmers begin other types of businesses. The Prime Minister urged the continuation of implementing measures on biological and environmental safety.

The poultry vaccination should be completed as planned, he said, calling for close supervision of vaccinated poultry, and strictly punishing cases of importing poultry from affected countries or unknown sources.

The agriculture ministry was told to relocate abattoirs and ensure food safety, firstly in big cities and industrial zones at high risk. MARD should co-ordinate with MoH and provide timely updates of the disease in the region and the world to the Prime Minister.

The domestic situation had to be closely monitored and ministries and agencies should be kept in readiness for immediate action. While implementing the urgent action plan, the Prime Minister asked ministries to make use of international assistance.

The MoH was asked to invest in medical equipment, stockpile medicines and upgrade healthcare units for providing treatment to the affected.

According to MARD, though avian flu has been waning nationwide since August - no new outbreak or infected cases have been reported after the month - there was still a likelihood of an outbreak.

Meanwhile, the lethal H5N1 virus was causing damage to other countries in the region and the world. Over the last century, there have been four pandemics in the world, resulting in the loss of millions of lives.

Vietnam reported three bird flu outbreaks since December 2003 that destroyed millions of poultry and killed 41 people from 90 infected cases.

The World Health Organisation (WHO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have warned of an impending great pandemic on poultry and humans, and many countries have devised urgent action plans.

According to MARD, Vietnam has in the past adopted three major measures to prevent an outbreak. These included informing people and helping them protect themselves and poultry, instructing farmers to regularly sterilise farms and vaccinating poultry.

The Government has spent VND700bil (US$44.3mil) for the national vaccination programme, which has so far vaccinated 50mil poultry. Under the programme, another 100mil poultry would be vaccinated next month.

(Source: Viet Nam News)