PHÒNG CHỐNG BÃO ! – Prevent storm damage – Prévention des catastrophes naturelles

The Vietnamese government has exempted foreign staff working for projects and programs funded by non-governmental aid from personal income tax. The exemption is contained in Circular No.55 from the Ministry of Finance.  Story from Thanh Nien News – Published: 01 June, 2007

PM Dung made the statement while talking with the head of the European Commission (EC) delegation to Vietnam, Markus Cornaro, who called on the Government Office Monday to bid him farewell at the end of his five-year duty in Vietnam.PM Dung praised the EC Ambassador’s great contribution to the deepening of relations between Vietnam and the EU in all fields, particularly in the country’s admission to the World Trade Organization.Dung believed that the ambassador with his prestige and personal role would continue contributing to the enhancement of the Vietnam-EU relations.In response, the EC Ambassador highly appreciated Vietnam’s cooperation and development commitments with the EU.EU-Vietnam ties have tightened in all arenas, especially as the two sides were negotiating for the signing of a new partnership agreement, evidence of the EU’s commitment of establishing long-standing relations with Vietnam, he said.The EU committed around US$936.2 million in official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam last year, with a focus on the healthcare, hunger eradication and poverty reduction projects.In related news, the Vietnamese government last Friday awarded the insignia “For Public Health”, to the EC Ambassador. Markus Cornaro, for his contributions to the country’s health sector during his working term from 2003-2007.Story from Thanh Nien News – Published: 28 May, 2007  

Quang Nam in the central region became the 16th Vietnamese province to succumb to bird flu, the media reported Thursday.

 In Vinh Nam hamlet in Duy Xuyen district, 370 out of a flock of 400 ducklings raised by a household had been infected May 30, the province’s veterinary bureau said. Specimens had tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the virus, it added. The central Animal Health Department reported a day earlier that 115 ducks had died on a farm in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho of H5N1.The infected flocks in Quang Nam and Can Tho were not vaccinated against bird flu and animal health workers slaughtered the remaining 685 birds. The number of birds killed by the virus or slaughtered nationwide has risen to more than 50,000 this month. Local veterinary agencies reported they had culled all fowls in affected flocks, disinfected affected areas, and established quarantine checkpoints around infected areas.

The 16 Vietnamese cities and provinces affected by bird flu since the beginning of last month are Quang Ninh, Son La, Nam Dinh, Hai Phong, Bac Giang, Ninh Binh, Bac Ninh, Ha Nam, Thai Nguyen, Thanh Hoa, and Vinh Phuc in the northern region; Nghe An, Quang Ngai, and Quang Nam in the central region; and Can Tho and Dong Thap in the south.

Bird flu combat efforts

The head of the National Steering Committee for Avian Influenza Prevention and Control instructed Thursday all local agencies to keep an eye on rural farms and backyard poultry to head off possible bird flu outbreaks. To deal with the worsening situation, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has called on the health ministry and the Standing Committee of the National Steering Committee for Avian Influenza Prevention and Control to adopt drastic measures to control the disease.

Vietnam confirmed a new human bird flu case Friday as the latest outbreak swept through 14 provinces within the last month. A worker at a slaughterhouse in Hanoi had tested positive for the H5N1 virus strain, Nguyen Duc Hien, head of the National Institute for Tropical Diseases, said.He was admitted to the institute May 26, just 12 days after starting to work at the abattoir. Hien said the man was recovering and his condition stable.Director of Hanoi’s Bach Mai Hospital, Tran Thuy Hanh, said in the past two days two patients had been admitted with typical bird flu symptoms, one of whom had died Friday.The hospital had taken samples from them for tests, she added.Bird flu has killed 42 people in Vietnam since it resurfaced in Asia in late-2003. Despite sweeping control measures, including mass vaccinations of poultry, the virus reemerged in 2005, last year, and once earlier this year.Globally the virus has infected 309 people in 12 countries, killing 187 of them, according to the World Health Organization.Indonesia said Friday that a 15-year-old girl died in central Java after contracting the disease. She had handled a dead chicken for cooking, an official said.Story from Thanh Nien News
Published: 01 June, 2007