Vietnam: Uphill Battle to Raise Awareness of Bird Flu

Because avian influenza (AI) is endemic in Vietnam and needs to be controlled, the United Nations (UN) Development Programme, along with the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), are uniting to work closely with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and other relevant ministries to contain the spread of the disease. The key strategy of the government and UN agencies in confronting avian influenza is the Viet Nam Integrated National Operational Programme for Avian and Human Influenza 2006-2010, known as the "Greenbook".

The programme is a US$250 million five-year programme with more than US$160 million committed to date from the Government of Vietnam and 16 international donors. It includes improving surveillance abilities, culling and market controls, and the goal of vaccinating 130 million poultry twice a year. It is also designed to strengthen overall health capacity, train epidemiologists, and establish laboratories.

A public awareness programme overseen by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) is, as stated here, integral to the strategy. "UNICEF has supported the rental of mobile vans equipped with loudspeakers that travelled around key districts in eight high-risk provinces in the north in March/April 2008, informing residents of ways to safeguard against avian influenza transmission. They have also distributed posters and brochures." UNICEF is working with the National Centre of Health and Education on a variety of awareness-raising efforts, including a mass radio and TV awareness campaign, as well as training for provincial- and district-level health staff on safeguards against AI and human avian influenza and on honing their communication skills. The key campaign messages include hand washing, safe and sanitary slaughter of poultry, thorough cooking of meat, and keeping children away from contact with poultry and their faeces.

Because complacency is indicated as a problem in slowing behaviour change, the campaign is now involving community health workers at the commune level, in addition to the provincial and district levels. In Ha Nam Province, UNICEF is training the Women's Union staff from the provincial to the commune level on avian influenza, organising, and raising awareness, including using poems, singing, and plays. The Women's Union in Ha Nam Province has 24 "clubs" - groupings of 60 women - and reportedly hopes to expand the number to address the avian influenza problem.