Philippines undertakes new Avian Influenza Protection Program
PHILIPPINES - While other countries are reeling from bird flu, the Philippine government wants to make sure it has more than enough measures to prevent the virus from entering the country.Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit said while the country remains clear of the virus strain that has hit neighboring Asian countries and parts of the world, the spread of the virus, however, remains to be a threat to reckon with. "The threat is already there, although external," Dayrit said.
Aside from the Philippines, only Singapore and Brunei remains free from the spread of the bird flu, according to Dayrit. A new measure was introduced during Monday's Bird Flu Summit here.
The measure will involve the local government units and the private sector. "We want to alert the LGUs," he said.
He said the county will be divided into seven or nine zones, so that when one zone is affected, say Mindanao, it will be contained or isolated from the rest of the zones.
The approach, which will be jointly undertaken by the Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Agriculture (DA), was dubbed Avian Influenza Protection Program (AIPP).
Source: news.inq7.net
5 May 2005
1 minute read
