A plenary meeting of the Partnership for Avian and Human Influenza (PAHI) was held in Hanoi on March 8, co-chaired by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Bui Ba Bong and United Nations Resident Coordinator in Vietnam John Hendra.

The meeting is an important landmark for the Ministries of Public Health and Agriculture and Rural Development and PAHI members to assess the nation’s integrated operational programme on avian and human influenza in the 2006-2010 period, the pandemic situation and the activities of partners.

The participants highlighted Vietnam’s effort to cope with avian influenza and a potential outbreak of human influenza over the past years.

Vietnam has to take control of the avian influenza virus to save on vaccination costs, experts recommended, emphasising the need to restructure the production, transport, and consumption of poultry throughout the country.

The country should review its national pandemic preparedness planning for large, complicated and unforeseeable disasters, they said.

The participants were also updated on preparations for the international ministerial conference on “Animal and Pandemic Influenza: The Way Forward” (IMCAPI Hanoi 2010) scheduled to be held in April./.