US$25 million to protect against avian influenza

An additional US$25 million has been allocated for the Vietnam Avian and Human Influenza Control and Preparedness Project to help Vietnam improve its response to the highly infectious avian influenza, human influenza, and other newly emerging diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans.

The World Bank (WB) and the State Bank of Vietnam signed an agreement to this effect yesterday, according to which more than 10 million people living in the eleven provinces covered by the project will be better protected.

Under this new contract, US$25 million will be given to the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to control the disease at its source in domestic poultry, promote early detection and response to cases of poultry and human infection, and prepare for the medical consequences of a pandemic among humans.

US$13 million of the sum will be granted from the Avian and Human Influenza Facility (AHIF), US$2 million from Government counterpart funds, and US$10 million from the World Bank through the International Development Association, its branch for concessional lending to low income countries.

This is the third operation that the WB, in partnership with the AHIF donors, has supported in Vietnam for controlling the highly infectious avian influenza and improving the country’s readiness to cope with a potential human influenza pandemic.

The first two operations, the Avian Influenza Emergency Recovery Project (AIERP) and the Vietnam Avian and Human Influenza Control and Preparedness Project (VAHIP), with total funding of US$40 million, were successfully implemented from 2004 to 2011.

Vietnam was among the countries most affected by avian influenza (H5N1), with its first human case reported in 2003. As of March 2011, Vietnam has reported 119 confirmed cases of H5N1 in humans, 59 of which were fatal. This represents 23% of the total number of human cases reported worldwide and 19% of the deaths.