Armed with a $8 million foreign assistance, Laos plans to raise its Avian flu preparedness to meet international standards by training its personnel and educating poultry farmers as well as the general population on bird flu symptoms detection in order to prevent an outbreak like the one that hit the country almost two years ago.
The late 2004 outbreak, causing the loss and culling of more than 500,000 poultries, resulted major financial hardship for many poultry farmers who had to shut down their farms because of limited assistance from the government.
Laos has recently been awarded a $8 million aid by the World Bank and the international community, including Japan and the United States, to assist in its efforts to prepare for a potential bird flu pandemic.
Listen to our Laos Today report for more details.