November 14, 2006—Its early afternoon at the provincial headquarters in Ha Tay province, just outside of Hanoi.
Two officials excuse themselves from a meeting and head out on a mission. The two are senior members of avian flu project management unit of the province.
Their task that day is clear. They’re on a monitoring mission to each of the province’s districts and communes to check on their progress in Vietnam’s battle against avian flu. Back in 2004, the disease took a heavy toll on the province – forcing the killing of 2.3 million chickens.
It’s already been a long day for the officials. The latest vaccination program of all the chickens in the province just finished that morning, prior to harvesting.
So for the two officials, their monitoring mission included random spot checks at several communes to ensure vaccination of poultry was carried out, according to the schedule.
Tan Xuan Binh with a map of Vietnam behind him
The officials’ mission highlights this province’s success in dealing with the threat of avian flu.
“Ha Tay is a very special province as it’s the biggest chicken breeding region in the whole country,” says Tan Xuan Binh, a senior official with the province’s avian flu project management unit. “But we have controlled avian flu since March 2004 and have not had an outbreak since then.”
The province attributes its success in combating avian flu outbreak to its community-based surveillance campaign, as well as to educating its people to recognize the symptoms of avian flu and adopt new habits in raising poultry. The province has a toll free number and offers a US$3 dollar reward to people who report cases of avian flu among animals.
But its campaign also involves training health workers and ensuring all poultry is vaccinated.
“The vaccination is given free by the government and the provincial authorities pay for health care workers to give the injections, “Tan Xuan Binh says.
About 100,000 people across Vietnam have been mobilized for the vaccination campaign, which began last year, in all the country’s 64 provinces.
In Vietnam today, avian flu is under control. Overall, the country has not had an outbreak since December last year and no human cases since November 2005. Vietnam was one of the countries hardest hit by avian flu. More than 45 million birds died or were culled in just three months.
But there are no signs of complacency about the disease – especially with the onset of winter.
Chicken on poultry farm in Ha Tay Province
“Now we are temporarily controlling, but we have a very high risk, because as you know some neighboring countries still have outbreaks in their poultry and in human,” says Hoang Van Nam, deputy director of the Department of Animal Health, in Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
He’s the man appointed as head of the avian influenza taskforce, established by a national steering committee, chaired by Vietnam’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Within three months of the avian influenza outbreak in Vietnam, the World Bank had a project prepared to help the Government of Vietnam quickly respond.
“At that stage, it was really an animal health issue, with more than 57 provinces out of 64 affected,” says Laurent Msellati, the World Bank’s Manager, Portfolio and Operations in Vietnam.
A veterinarian by training, Msellati says the Bank is now preparing a second phase operation to assist Vietnam, due to begin early next year.
“The first phase was really a short term emergency response project and during this we supported Vietnam through improved diagnostic facilities and improved surveillance systems and also worked with the government on bio-security measures and on public awareness and information,” he says. ‘
One tangible sign of that is in the laboratory of Veterinary Research in Hanoi. Professor Truong Van Dzung, the director of the National Institute for Animal Health, says the facilities – provided through World Bank funding – allow for testing of samples from the provinces.
Laboratory for testing avian influenza
Hoang Van Nam says there are now nine laboratories across the country and with that, the ability to quickly deliver results on the ground as to whether the animals have avian flu.
“What we are being told is that the detection of suspect cases, the sending of samples to the lab and the return of information has dropped from seven to ten days, at the beginning of the outbreak, to now less than five days,” Msellati says. “So the system is quicker and more reliable.”
“The key factor of success in the control of animal health diseases and especially those which can be transmitted to man is transparency and speed. Vietnam has learned its lesson.
“We are now working on strengthening the surveillance system. We are now working on much more elaborate research protocols to follow the disease in wild birds for example and to monitor the efficacy of vaccination by testing for antibodies. Vietnam is convinced they need to strengthen this early warning system,” he says.
Msellati says the Bank’s next avian influenza program for Vietnam signals a move from the short term responses to the “more medium term consolidation phase.” It will include funding for a more targeted vaccination campaign for a third round in about 33 provinces, as well as surveillance in what’s called the “hot spots” – like live bird markets or areas along the country’s long border. Funding will also be given to help Vietnam prepare to deal with a possible pandemic among humans.
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