World Bank funds new bird flu plan
HA NOI — The World Bank will fund US$20 million of a three-year, $38 million project aimed to improve control of bird flu and better prepare for a possible epidemic among the human population in Viet Nam, under a financing agreement signed yesterday in Ha Noi between the State Bank of Viet Nam and the World Bank.
The International Development Association, a World Bank entity which provides concessional loans to developing nations, will provide $20 million for the project, while an additional $10 million will come from the EU-funded window of the multi-donor Avian and Human Influenza Facility. Japan will contribute an additional $5 million, while the Government of Viet Nam will provide matching funds in the amount of $3 million.
“Avian influenza produces severe impacts on the incomes and lives of thousands of farmers in affected provinces and on socio-economic development overall,” said State Bank governor Le Duc Thuy at the signing ceremony.
The project aims to increase the effectiveness of Government services in reducing health risks to poultry and humans from the bird flu virus in eleven high-risk provinces.
The provinces to receive assistance would include Lang Son, Ha Tay, Thai Binh, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Thua Thien-Hue, Binh Dinh, Tay Ninh, Long An, Tien Giang and Dong Thap, all of which have been hit by the deadly virus.
Yesterday’s signing ceremony took place even while provinces were in the process of administering 2007’s first round of en-masse poultry vaccinations.
“Viet Nam has addressed the avian influenza epidemic in ways that offer a model for other countries facing threats by the deadly virus,” said Nguyen Hoi Chan, acting country director of the World Bank in Viet Nam, praising the nation’s efforts so far to combat bird flu.
“By controlling the disease at its source, by early detection and response to poultry and human cases and by preparing for the medical consequences of a human pandemic if it occurs over the next years, the project will also support the implementation of Viet Nam’s plans in the medium- to long-term for controlling avian and human influenza,” Chan added.
The components of the new project will fall under the headings of Avian Influenza Control and Eradication in the Agricultural Sector; Influenza Prevention and Pandemic Preparedness in the Health Sector; Integration, Co-ordination, Results Monitoring and Evaluation; and Project Management. The project would be based on the successful implementation of the Avian Influenza Emergency Recovery Project.
The direct costs of avian influenza in Viet Nam were estimated at over $200 million so far and the disease was estimated to have reduced national GDP in 2004 by 1.5 per cent.
Bird flu story source: Vietnam News Service