Dear Editor,

 

Thank you for your article entitled “Bird flu training goes local” which appeared on your website on 27 June 2008. However, I would like to correct the lead paragraph.

The Food and Agriculture Organization and the Department of Animal Health and Production of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will continue their awareness and education activities on bird flu with a new series of market forums planned to be conducted after the July national elections. Through these forums, FAO and DAHP will reach out to market managers, middlemen and vendors in major live bird markets in Cambodia with messages on how they can prevent the spread of bird flu in the marketplace.

The market forums will complement the community forums which will resume after the rainy season. The community forums had been successfully conducted in four provinces bordering Viet Nam and in Siem Reap drawing some 5,000 people from 35 villages. The forums provide a venue for village animal health workers and village chiefs to communicate to their communities how the bird flu virus spreads in backyard farms and what simple measures they can take to prevent and control its spread.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Maria Cecilia Dy

Information & Communication Officer

Avian Influenza Programme

FAO