A
plenary meeting of the Partnership for Avian and Human Influenza (PAHI) was
held in Hanoi
on March 8, co-chaired by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development
(MARD) Bui Ba Bong and United Nations Resident Coordinator in Vietnam John
Hendra.
The meeting is an important landmark for the
Ministries of Public Health and Agriculture and Rural Development and PAHI
members to assess the nation’s integrated operational programme on avian and
human influenza in the 2006-2010 period, the pandemic situation and the
activities of partners.
The participants highlighted Vietnam’s effort to cope with avian
influenza and a potential outbreak of human influenza over the past years.
Vietnam has to take control of the avian influenza virus to
save on vaccination costs, experts recommended, emphasising the need to
restructure the production, transport, and consumption of poultry throughout
the country.
The country should review its national pandemic
preparedness planning for large, complicated and unforeseeable disasters, they
said.
The participants were also updated on preparations
for the international ministerial conference on “Animal and Pandemic Influenza:
The Way Forward” (IMCAPI Hanoi 2010) scheduled to be held in April./.
