(VEN) – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) recently announced to extend its funding of the US$1.7 million project to help the FAO and the Vietnamese Government continue to build capacity to prevent and cope with avian flu outbreaks.
Prior to that, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development had adopted a project to provide emergency technical support to increase the readiness for coping with the H5N1 avian flu in Vietnam,
Apart from building capacity in controlling H5N1 flu infected areas and related hazards including the H7N9 flu, the new phase of the project will help the Veterinary Department and the Department of Animal Husbandry under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development draw-up and apply policies and laws to enhance control of the avian flu and other animal-to-human infectious diseases nationwide.
The USAID’s new funds via the FAO will help the Veterinary Department, Department of Animal Husbandry, National Veterinary Diagnosis Center, regional veterinary agencies and related labs to continue monitoring viruses by collecting and analyzing avian samples at more than 250 markets, strengthen biological security in poultry breeding, build capacity of the veterinary system in helping lab experts improve the quality of monitoring and diagnosis and effectively monitor vaccines and viruses in order to notify the government of the readiness to cope with would-be outbreaks.
Since 2005 the USAID has provided more than US$50 million for Vietnam to prevent and struggle with the avian flu and other emerging infectious diseases./.
Nguyen Tien Dung
Đăng ký: VietNam News