Vietnam's Success against Avian Flu May Offer Blueprint for Others

According to this article, Vietnam has controlled the avian influenza virus more successfully than any other country where the disease became endemic. Many aggressive interventions were used to control bird flu, including mass culling, mandatory poultry vaccination, strict controls on poultry rearing, farmer compensation and aggressive public education and outreach campaigns.

Vietnam’s success in controlling the avian flu virus has prompted international health authorities to explore ways to replicate Vietnam’s tactics. According to the article, the challenge is figuring out which of Vietnam’s many tactics actually made a difference in controlling the virus.

According to Dr. David Nabarro, the United Nations' senior coordinator for avian influenza, Vietnam’s control of the disease is the result of top-level direction from a committed political figure. According to workers in avian flu control within Vietnam, success is due to political coercion as well as the support of the population. "What makes the system work is not that it is top-down, but that it achieves consensus at every level," said Don Douglas, chief of party for Mekong Region avian flu efforts.

Despite Vietnam's success in controlling the virus, bird flu education and outreach are already beginning to be forgotten by villagers and farmers who believe that the disease has been stopped and will not return. Health authorities are concerned about the onset of winter, a time of year when cases of avian influenza increase, and according to the vice-director of Vietnam’s health department, “Vietnam…has to prepare to deal with the comeback of this epidemic.”