Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Laos receives vaccine to fight bird flu

Laos receives vaccine to fight bird flu

(KPL) Japan gave Lao PDR 5,280 doses of Tamiflu and personal protective equipments (PPEs), to assist this country to be prepared for any outbreak of avian flu and to arrest its development to the stage of a pandemic.
According to a press release from the Japanese embassy the handover ceremony took place yesterday at the Japanese Embassy here. Mr Masaaki Miyashita, Japanese Ambassador to Laos handed the materials to Mr Bounkuang Phichith, Deputy Minister of Public Health.
The highly infectious and death threatening avian flu of the H5N1 strain had occurred in Asia since 2003. The bird flu disease had been detected in several locations in the country, Luang Namtha, Luang Prabang, Oudomsay and Sayaboury provinces in 2008.
The Government of Japan, by utilizing the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund and through close coordination with the World Health Organisation, provided ASEAN with a regional stockpile of 500,000 courses of Tamiflu and PPE for 700,000 people and they were stored in Singapore in 2006.

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