Assistance for Measures against Avian Influenza

March 5, 2004

To help Southeast Asia control avian flu, the Government of Japan has decided to dispatch an expert to Thailand to investigate the present situation, eliminate avian flu, and prevent recurrence within the framework of the Project of Japan-Thailand Technical Cooperation on Animal Disease Control in Thailand and Neighboring Countries, a project being conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in that country.
Under the present cooperation, an expert on avian flu diagnosis (neuraminidase sub-typing assay) will be dispatched from March 7 (Sun) to 13 (Sat) in response to a request from the Government of Thailand for technical guidance and training for the Thai officials in charge of communicable disease control. The Government of Japan will also dispatch a JICA long-term expert who is now working in Thailand to Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar to investigate the present situation and give advice on epidemic control, with a view to studying mid-term countermeasures against avian flu in Southeast Asia.
On February 18 this year, the Government of Japan already provided Viet Nam, through JICA, with medicine (100,000 tablets of Tamiflu) worth a total of about 20 million yen (transportation fees included) to help the country to control avian flu, as part of Japan's prompt assistance for avian flu control in Southeast Asia.

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