BANGKOK, Feb. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- A sum of 1.6 million dollar emergency assistance has been granted to four countries in great need to help them to contain the current bird flu crisis, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said here on Tuesday afternoon.

    "Cambodia, Laos, Pakistan and Vietnam will receive emergency assistance from FAO in support of their battle against the virulent avian flu virus," said a press release issued here by FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.

    FAO provided the assistance to support the four countries in their immediate efforts to control the avian influenza outbreak in all poultry species and stop the transmission of the virus to humans, the press release said.

    "These projects need money fro immediate help," the press release quoted head of the FAO regional office, He Changchui, as saying.

    The emergency aid package, requested by the four countries, would be immediately accessible for the countries from Tuesday, FAO's Senior Regional Animal Production and Health Officer, Hans Wagner, told Xinhua in a brief telephone interview.

    Wagner said that each country would get a maximum of 400,000 dollars from the aid package which acts as an emergency measure to help those countries undergoing the current crisis.

    The FAO assistance is expected to help these countries to step up their emergency disease control and surveillance systems, the news release said.

    Wagner noted that FAO would explore more channels for donation and aids so as to help countries hit by the epidemic to contain the disease and recover their poultry industries.

    FAO on Monday urged support for less-developed countries to curb the spread of the fowl epidemic and warned that the disease would remain as a continuous threat to public and animal health in the near future. Enditem