The commitment was made at the Joint Government-Donor Meeting held in Hanoi on June 2 in support of the Integrated Operational Programme for Avian and Human Influenza of Vietnam.

Representatives from the Vietnamese Government, 23 donor countries, seven international agencies and three international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) attended the meeting, jointly held by the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the World Bank (WB), to discuss challenges to the control of influenza.

Addressing the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dzung thanked all donors and said that Vietnam has achieved preliminary success in bird flu prevention with the all-out efforts of agencies and people. Over the past five months, bird flu has not occurred in Vietnam, and the country has not detected any cases of H5N1 in humans over the past six months.

Klaus Rohland, WB Country Director for Vietnam, said the above grant for two and a half years is given for Vietnam alone, in addition to US$47 million the donors previously offered to Beijing, China.

All the money will be used to implement the Integrated Operational Programme for the 2006-2010 period, also called the Green Book, mapped out by the Vietnamese Government and 12 donors.

Mr Rohland said that Vietnam is the first country in the world to compile such a plan, and it will serve as a basis for the WB and donors to finance Vietnam.

Hans Troedsson, representative of the World Health Organisation in Vietnam, said that Vietnam was the nation hardest hit by avian flu and is considered a case study into prevention of the epidemic, as it tested successful methods for containment of the spread of the disease to humans and control of the epidemic.

According to Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat, the Programme will need an estimated US$250 million.

Several other donors have not yet announced grants but say they are ready in case of an emergency, should an flu pandemic break out among humans.