Thailand Launches National Avian Influenza Awareness, Prevention Campaign In Schools

On Tuesday October 10 2006, Thailand’s Ministry of Education (MOE) launched a national campaign to teach school children the behaviours they need to practice to stop the spread of the avian influenza virus. According to the article, the campaign is a collaboration between the MOE, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) and the Government of Japan, and will cover 40,000 elementary and secondary schools across Thailand.

The campaign will include the distribution of two million posters and two million pamphlets to promote frequent hand washing, rapid reporting of sick and dead poultry as well as other key behaviours to prevent the spread of bird flu. Teachers will be given a newly developed curriculum along with 300,000 bars of soap to help to educate children about avian flu.

According to the article, seventeen people (including eleven children) have died of avian influenza in Thailand since 2004. It is hoped that the campaign will help to stop the virus from spreading from poultry to humans by educating children and their families about how to protect themselves from avian flu.