HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Feb. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Fearing that it takes bird flu-hit countries years to eradicate the disease, officials said offering greater financial and social assistance torural areas is of great help in controlling and preventing the disease.

    Shigeru Omi, regional director for the Western Pacific of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Cao Duc Phat, Vietnamese Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, made the remarks ata press briefing after the opening ceremony of the 2nd Regional Meeting on Avian Influenza Control in Animals in Asia starting here Wednesday.

    Governments of affected countries should continue giving compensation to farmers, Omi said, adding that they also need to help rural residents change their unhygienic agricultural practices and living conditions.

    "Avian influenza is a disease closely concerned with rural areas. The disease affects small poultry farms whose owners don't have enough resources to fight it. It's very difficult to change their daily lifestyle and breeding practices," he stated.

    In many rural areas, people and animals live in a rather unsanitary condition, he said, noting that different species such as ducks, chickens and pigs are raised together, and that the animals are close to their raisers' living environment.

    Regarding fight against bird flu, Vietnam has paid attention torural residents and their breeding practices, since 80 percent of the 14 million rural households nationwide involve in raising poultry, but less than 10 percent of the fowl farms are large-scale, Phat said.

    "Most of poultry in Vietnam are raised at small-scale in households. That's why, it has a great impact on our fight againstbird flu. Now, Vietnam has 59 million waterfowls, namely ducks andgeese. Most of them are raised freely in fields and canals," the minister stated.

    Regarding ducks as a big reservoir of infection, Vietnam is encouraging local residents to keep their waterfowls in cages, andit will cull the whole flocks of ducks if a single sample from them is tested positive to the virus, he said. Under the government's policies, farmers are to receive 5,000 Vietnamese dong (VND) (0.3 US dollar) per fowl culled. However, many local authorities can give them up to 15,000 VND (0.9 dollar).

    The government, in early this month, asked cities and provincesnationwide to temporarily cease the incubation of fowl eggs, and the additional raising of waterfowls, including ducks and geese, and quails until late June.

    Bird flu has hit 35 out of 64 Vietnamese localities since late December 2004, killing and leading to the forced culling of over 1.5 million fowls, and killing 12 local people.

    The first wave of bird flu outbreaks in Vietnam, which lasted from December 2003 to March 2004, killed and led to the forced culling of 43.8 million fowls or about 16.8 percent of the country's poultry population, causing total losses of 1.3 trillion VND (82.8 million dollars) to the local poultry industry, Phat said.

    According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), close to 140 million fowls have died or been destroyed in Asia to date, and loss of their flocks has left many in deep debt. Total poultry farm losses in Asia in 2004 are estimated at more than 10 billion dollars.

    During the three-day regional meeting, held by FAO and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) in collaboration with WHO and the Vietnamese government, up to 150 delegates, including top veterinary officials, scientists and representatives of both international and regional organizations and donors from about 25 countries and regions, are to discuss bird flu situations in Asia.

    They are also to review recommendations of the first meeting held in Thailand in February 2004, make recommendations on future needs, touch upon scientific advances on animal health and socio-economic analysis. Enditem