Mrs Chien said Vietnam considers the fight against bird flu as a major task of the whole society and that the country should strengthen coordination among ministries and sectors, raise public awareness of health and disease control, increase the capacity of public employees in charge of the issue and make all necessary preparations to cope with any emergency cases in the coming time. She affirmed that Vietnam will also cooperate with international organisations and governments in sharing information.

Addressing the meeting, General Director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Dr. Margaret Chan announced the campaign "Invest in health, build a safe place", which calls governments, international organisations and the community to join efforts and share resources to deal with urgent problems to people's health, including SARS, avian and pandemic influenza, HIV/AIDS, and others.

Vietnam is the first country in the world to have successfully contained SARS in 2003. With its own efforts and international assistance, the country has managed to control the influenza type A (H5N1) for more than a year. It has reported no further human cases since November 14, 2005.

In Vietnam, H5N1 control activities have been directly supervised by the Prime Minister with the participation of relevant ministries and agencies, said Mrs Chien, adding that the country has developed a master plan on avian influenza human pandemic control. It has invested US$70 million in human influenza control, organised training for health workers at all levels and national and provincial pandemic preparedness exercises. Month-long campaigns for hygienic breeding facilities and healthy environment have been launched throughout the country.

These efforts have helped Vietnam contain influenza A (H5N1), the minister said.
Vietnam has detected 93 bird flu patients, including 42 fatalities in 32 localities, since the first case was reported in December 2003. It has seen no new human infections though bird flu outbreaks recurred in several localities early this year.

However, the minister warned that some already contained infectious diseases now show signs of re-emergence and diseases that originate from environmental pollution are on the rise.

At the meeting, Dr. Hans Troedsson, World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in Vietnam spoke highly of Vietnam's efforts in controlling pandemic diseases, especially the SARS and influenza A (H5N1).

WHO is sparing no efforts to ensure a safer world by closely collaborating with relevant agencies to deal with security and health challenges, as well as investment in health in order to build a more secure future, he said.