Photo: VOV

PANO - The US Government is providing Vietnam with more than 11,000 sets of personal protective equipment and four laboratory kits to help health workers respond quickly to potential new outbreaks of avian or H1N1 influenza.

The package, worth more than $100,000, by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), comes at the Vietnamese Health Ministry’s request, with technical assistance from the World Health Organisation.

According to the US Embassy in Hanoi, these supplies are being sent to regional hygiene and epidemiology institutes, the Pasteur Institutes, and provinces throughout the country most at risk of bird flu or in greatest need of the supplies, which include protective gears, and infection testing swabs.

The protective gear is intended for use in provinces at high risk, in order to prevent human exposure to the highly pathogenic H5N1 Avian Influenza virus. The gear will limit the risk of animal-to-human and human-to-human infections during human case detection and treatment, outbreak investigations and response as well as other activities.

The package of materials will help protect healthcare workers and others involved on the prevention and response of H5N1 or other pandemic threats at health facilities and in communities in Vietnam.

Since 2005, the US Government has provided more than $50 million to support Vietnam's programs to combat avian influenza.

Mai Huong