Hanoi (VNA) – The Japanese government has decided to provide Vietnam with over 74,000 courses of antiviral medicine Tamiflu to help the country combat the H5N1 influenza among humans.
Deputy Head of Mission and Minister of Japanese Embassy in Vietnam Daisuke Matsunaga handed over the donation to Deputy Minister of Health Cao Minh Quang in Hanoi on August 14.
The Japanese representative said this was part of Japan’s commitment to provide Tamiflu for 500,000 people in Southeast Asian countries through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF).
Japan considers it very important to support Vietnam in preventing avian and human influenza, he said, adding that Japan has helped build new bio-safety level 3 laboratories in the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology.
Japan is also active to support Vietnam in this field through international organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO), the UN Fund for Children (UNICEP), the World Bank (WB), the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam has so far this year seen 74 bird flu outbreaks in 26 provinces with some 60,000 fowls infected. At present, three provinces, including Dong Thap, Quang Ngai and Kien Giang, have not passed a 21-day bird flu free period.
The country also had five people died of the disease since the beginning of 2008.-Enditem
|
|