Of the total figure, US$16.2 million come from funding for phase 2 of the cooperation programme between the Government of Vietnam and the United Nations and the rest from the governments of the US, Japan and Ireland through the Food Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The projects are of great significance to Vietnam after the country detected bird flu outbreaks in some southern provinces recently.

The cooperation programme between the Vietnamese Government and the UN will be implemented by the National Steering Committee for Bird Flu Prevention and Control with the participation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Health and other ministries.

FAO will take charge of conducting vaccination training courses in localities, monitoring the results of vaccination and the development of the epidemic in the country, and studying cases of infection from wild birds and free-range ducks.

According to the US Embassy in Hanoi, the US government will fund two projects worth US$126,408 to help the country prevent the spread of bird flu.