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Every week in Vietnam, 4 million chickens and ducks are vaccinated against avian influenza.

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Since the outbreak in 2003, bird flu has landed in about 46 countries.

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In Vietnam, 44 million birds have been lost to the virus, about 20% of its poultry stock.

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Vietnam has also seen the highest number of outbreaks of bird flu in the human population

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– 93 cases, 47 of those people died.

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Vietnam has mobilised over 100,000 workers on their action plan to tackle the disease.

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So far, there are encouraging signs – no new bird flu cases in five months, and there

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have been no human cases since November 2005.

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But it's too early to claim Vietnam has won the fight against bird flu.

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Furthermore, bird diseases ignore borders, making bird flu a regional concern.

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Asian countries with high-density rural populations are especially vulnerable.

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Across the region, people keep poultry in their backyards, and close daily contact with

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poultry is common.

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Rapid urbanisation in a developing country creates many problems.

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Cities like Hanoi now have to cope with rural poultry farmers bringing their stock to market.

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It's another factor that causes the spread of the virus.

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Hygiene and biosecurity are not always a priority in a place like this.

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The entrepreneurs have built up their little farms into bigger farms, and those are the

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people that you'll see in the countryside with half a dozen chickens on the handlebars

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of their motorbike heading for market.

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But unfortunately, those little farms as they've grown to bigger farms have been known about

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paying attention to biosecurity to stop the spread of disease.

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Twenty-two-year-old Nguyen C. Tan is one of the 93 Vietnamese human victims of bird flu.

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Tan noticed a high temperature and had difficulty breathing.

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He had no idea what was wrong.

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At that time, my body was aching everywhere.

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I couldn't breathe, I couldn't eat, and I was scared.

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Tan survived, although it took him six months to recover.

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He was lucky.

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Statistically, bird flu will kill half the people who get it.

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Human cases result from direct contact with diseased poultry.

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Human-to-human transfer has not happened.

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There has been no mutation of the virus.

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The question of a human pandemic is still only theoretical.

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If animal health can be effectively tackled, it will greatly reduce the threat to humans.

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Vietnam has a comprehensive action plan to cope with bird flu, and regional cooperation

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is important in tackling the problem.

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But Vietnam is to the forefront.

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In every village and every commune, dealing with bird flu is an everyday matter.

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Public information campaigns are central to the strategy.

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They carry messages about the handling of farmyard animals and safe cooking practices.

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So the mass education for the people is very important for developed countries like Vietnam.

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And we have experienced that for the last three years with the international support.

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We do relatively well.

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This provincial hospital in Thai Binh has new equipment and specially trained personnel

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to cope with bird flu.

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These doctors and nurses have seen human cases before, and they are constantly preparing

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for another outbreak.

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The local health officer, Pham Gia Lai, acknowledges that facilities have improved.

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But he is only too aware of what resources would be required if there was large-scale

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infection among people in his district.

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We look forward to more support in the province and the support of other organisations in

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Vietnam.

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We want the Ministry of Health to provide more help and facilities for the personnel

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here in the province.

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This will help them to fully adapt their know-how so that they are ready to combat another possible

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outbreak.

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When poor farmers lose their poultry, the economic impact can be devastating.

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Financial compensation helps, but it's never enough.

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It's another difficulty for a country like Vietnam.

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The mass killing of small animals, which are a major source of protein, may have a significant

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and perhaps long-term nutritional effect.

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European Union expertise and funding is directed globally to ensure that already poor people

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are not made poorer.

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The EU is working with the Vietnamese government to bridge the finance gap in the country's

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action plan.

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And that brought us very early, I think, into the game of advising the government to

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realise that it would not be good enough just to focus on immediate culling or vaccination

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or some ad hoc measurements regarding the marketplace, but from the early start to give

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it a medium-term perspective.

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Vietnam is an excellent example of a situation where the focus has moved away from short-term

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crisis response.

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Stock farming is now being restructured on a more professional basis.

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While Vietnam seems to be making progress, its position as a developing country with

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poor infrastructure continue to make it vulnerable to the threat of further outbreaks.

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For Vietnam and the world at large, the fight against avian influenza is very important.

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Not just one sole country is important.

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Not just one sole country can solve this problem.

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International cooperation has been mobilised on an unprecedented scale and European Union

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leadership has been instrumental.

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Working with the Chinese, the EU set up the Beijing conference to generate funds to tackle

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bird flu.

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For the Commission, as well as our member states, it was important politically to be

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present and to lead on this global partnership.

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And we proposed to China to host the conference.

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We are here on behalf of the people.

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The situation is very serious, therefore we reinforce international coordination and cooperation

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for unity in fighting this disease.

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The disease is a menace for the whole world, for public health, for human health, and also

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in the economic, social, environmental worlds, and for the stability and security of the

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world.

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The fact that large-scale international and regional aid could be made available so quickly

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proved that countries recognised the potential.

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