Health-Burma: Bird-Flu Awareness Campaigns Show Results

Response to a December 2007 outbreak of bird flu virus among poultry in Myanmar/Burma’s eastern Shan State, close to the Thai border, has demonstrated that there is a flow of information on the avian influenza virus. In the military-ruled country, there were nearly 1,000 chickens, 20 ducks, and a few geese infected by the H5N1 strain of the virus. Farmers in the affected areas notified local animal and public health authorities as soon as they spotted dead birds in their backyards. The current information flow is in contrast to a 4-day delay in information transmission by the state-owned media network during a March 2006 outbreak elsewhere in the country, according to this article. Myanmar/Burma recorded its first case of human infection in November of 2007.


The Shan State has been the focus of education and awareness campaigns working with small farmers and poultry handlers and led by United Nations (UN) agencies like the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the staff of the Myanmar/Burma’s animal and public health departments. According to the FAO, in the first week of December 2007, there were two training programmes, with one attracting some 800 participants. These sessions, conducted in local languages, included information on how infected poultry could be identified, what should be done if the chickens - largely small farmers' backyard flocks - start dying, how people should protect themselves, and which authorities should be notified.


In neighbouring Vietnam, there has been an intensive education, vaccination, and culling programme launched in late 2005. Behaviour changes included the closing of markets where fresh killed poultry was available. No cases of avian flu were reported in 2006. However, the virus returned in 2007, resulting in the recognition of parts of the country as virus endemic or a virus "hotspot".