USAID Sponsors Avian Influenza Activities in Can Tho Province

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

CAN THO, December 3, 2008 – The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and local authorities have launched expanded avian influenza (AI) prevention and control activities in Can Tho, one of five focus provinces in Vietnam along with Hung Yen, Ha Nam, Quang Tri, and Kien Giang.

“This project is very important for AI prevention and control activities in Can Tho because it has increased the farmers’ awareness and improved local capacity of AI prevention and control,” said Dr. Luu Phuoc Hau, deputy director of Can Tho Animal Health Department. “This project will help Can Tho to improve bio-security in the poultry production, the best measure to control AI virus at its source.”

Can Tho was selected as a focus province because of its central location in the Mekong Delta and its large poultry population, especially free-grazing ducks that increase the risk for spreading avian influenza.  Can Tho has an estimated 1.5 million ducks and waterfowl.

Starting in 2007, the U.S.-funded prevention and control project in Can Tho has improved disease surveillance and response at the community level, trained animal health workers, and conducted practice responses to avian influenza outbreaks through simulations.

At an inception workshop on December 2, representatives from the Provincial People’s Committee, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Livestock Division, Department of Health, Preventive Health Center, and Women’s Union joined USAID and its partners -- Abt Associates, U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization, World Health Organization, and Academy for Educational Development -- to launch the provincial activities. 

Activities in Can Tho build on the ongoing implementation of the USAID-funded “Capacity Building to Prevent and Control Avian Influenza in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region” project, which is entering its third year.  In collaboration with CARE International and counterparts in Can Tho, this project assists local government and communities to identify and report suspected cases of avian influenza, improve biosecurity in hatcheries, and deliver communication activities that encourage farmers, poultry workers, health personnel, and the general public to take precautions to prevent avian influenza.

Vietnam is one of the countries most affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza, which is endemic in the poultry population.  Farmers affected by avian influenza have suffered severe economic losses, which can spread to their neighbours through the spread of the virus to other poultry and the culling of potentially infected birds.  Avian influenza can also be transmitted from animals to humans.  Experts are concerned that the virus could mutate into an influenza virus that is easily transmissible between humans, potentially launching a global influenza pandemic.  Since 2003, Vietnam has recorded 106 cases of avian influenza in humans, resulting in 52 deaths. 

Since 2005, USAID has provided $27.5 million for avian influenza prevention and control in Vietnam.

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