Wednesday, 11 March 2009

Cambodia to use karaoke to increase public awareness of bird flu+

PHNOM PENH, March 10 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Fearing further outbreaks of bird flu, Cambodia will use a karaoke video featuring a popular local singer as part of a U.N.- associated health program to raise public awareness of the disease that can prove fatal to humans.

In a joint statement released Tuesday, Cambodia's agriculture ministry and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said they will begin the awareness campaign next week to alert people to the risks associated with increased movement of poultry and people in the run-up to the Khmer New Year holiday in mid-April.

During the April 14-16 celebrations, there is huge demand for chickens and ducks as Cambodians traditionally serve poultry.

The 3-minute karaoke video, starring female singer Khat Sokhim, will show the benefit of raising backyard poultry with improved measures to prevent bird flu or contain it from spreading, according to Mak Chanthol, communications officer for the public awareness campaign.

Farmers will be encouraged to quarantine new and sick birds, wash their hands with soap, keep yards and poultry pens clean, wear protection when handling poultry, keep children away from poultry and separate ducks from chickens, he said.

The video also promotes reporting sick and dead poultry to the hotline and local authorities.

Mak Chanthol said community forums on bird flu will be organized with poultry farmers in the border provinces of Svay Rieng, Prey Veng, Takeo and Kampot.

The campaign will be complemented by nationwide TV and radio broadcasts of bird flu prevention measures to promote better public understanding of how the virus is transmitted from poultry to poultry and from poultry to humans and what people can do to prevent and control its spread, he said.

Cambodia has had 22 outbreaks of H5N1 strain bird flu in poultry since 2004 and seven human deaths, with the latest outbreak in poultry and in humans reported in April 2007.

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