Bird flu experts study Viet plan
NST, 7 May 2006

DANANG: Asia-Pacific Health ministers and officials went to the frontline in the global war on bird flu yesterday --- a Vietnamese poultry farm with 7,000 chickens.

The delegates, wearing protective suits, face masks and goggles, inspected the farm, where the egg-laying hens had been freshly vaccinated, wire mesh kept out wild birds, and disinfectant lime was scattered in the sand.

“I’m no expert on Vietnamese agricultural practices, but I do find this to be impressive”, said John Lange, the

US State Department’s top official on avian influenza.

The health experts were on a field trip following an Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) meeting here on the threat of a bird flu pandemic, which recommended steps including a shift toward modern biosecure farms.

In Vietnam and elsewhere in Asia, chicken and ducks are traditionally kept in family backyard farms, transported live in baskets on motorbikes to ‘wet markets’ and slaughtered there or in people’s homes with a hatchet.

“Restructuring the poultry industry is a big challenge because there are millions of small backyard farmers, and they need investment”, said He Changchui, Asia-Pacific chief of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. --- AFP.