Many Cambodians in the Dark About Bird Flu

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Many Cambodians in the Dark About Bird Flu By KER MUNTHIT, Associated

Press Writer

Source: News

Two days after Cheoun Uork's 3-year-old daughter died, health

officials told him she had succumbed to bird flu. He had never heard

of the virus.

The toddler's death was emblematic of Cambodia's struggle to alert

its countryside to the threat of bird flu. Too often, it has taken a

tragedy for villagers to realize they've even had an outbreak.

" Had I known about such a warning, I would have taken better

precautions to protect my daughter, " said Choeun Uork, 30, wearing a

white T-shirt printed with a bird flu awareness message. " She was my

only child, and now I have to live with regret over her death. "

The rapid spread of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has triggered

alarm worldwide, with health experts fearing it could mutate into a

form easily spread among people, potentially sparking a pandemic.

Since resurfacing in Asia in 2003, it has killed at least 109 people.

Yet in rural Cambodia, many remain ignorant of its threat.

Mon Puthy's death last month — Cambodia's fifth since January 2005 —

spurred the government to intensify efforts to raise awareness. Prime

Minister Hun Sen ordered an intense television and radio education

campaign. But it's a race against time.

Two weeks after the girl's death, a 12-year-old boy in the

southeastern province of Prey Veng became the country's sixth bird

flu victim.

" There's obviously a lack of awareness in this community (about) what

bird flu is, " said Megge , a World Health Organization

epidemiologist in Cambodia. " When we went into the field, families

were asking questions, 'What is avian influenza? What is this about?' "

Due to budget constraints, the government has focused on only five of

the country's 24 provinces. The five are considered at high risk

because they are near the borders with Thailand and Vietnam, two of

the countries worst hit by bird flu, said Ly Sovann, head of disease

surveillance control at the Health Ministry.

Part of the problem is that access to television is scarce in the

countryside.

" Sometimes, people are enjoying music on the radio, and if a

commercial or education spot pops up after the song, they will switch

to another channel for more music, " he said. " That is why face-to-

face communication with villagers is more crucial for training and

encouraging them to take part in prevention of the disease, " he said.

But estimated it would take 40,000 volunteers to help spread

the message throughout communities — an undertaking that would

require substantial funding from foreign donors.

Gardner, a senior U.N. development official, said Cambodia

needed about $18 million to tackle bird flu for an 18-month period.

The recent deaths, he said, suggest many outbreaks have gone

undetected until someone dies.

said spreading the message includes teaching villagers about

personal hygiene and a clean living environment. Volunteers are also

trying to break villagers of the habit of eating sick birds — a

struggle in a poor country where people are reluctant to let food go

to waste.

" It's a habit they have practiced for hundreds of years without

having any problems with their health. When we tell them it now can

cause problem, they hear it but sometimes refuse to believe it. And

many of them still don't believe it now, " said Kao Phal, director of

Animal health department in the Agriculture Ministry.

In this village set against rice paddies in Kampong Speu province,

few people thought anything unusual was happening when chickens

started dying in March.

Like many rural Cambodians, Mon Puthy's mother, Choeun Sokny, said

she cooked chickens that died of disease. But she insists her

daughter never touched the birds, though WHO officials concluded the

girl became infected through exposure to sick poultry.

" The kids next door played with and hugged chickens all the times,

but they did not get sick, " she said.

Her grandfather, Khieu Mak, doesn't believe she died of bird flu at

all.

" I think it's the black magic power that killed her so fast at the

hospital. She would not have died if she was treated at home with

Khmer traditional medicines, " said Khieu Mak, 47.

Still, life has changed in Tuol Prik, where Mon Puthy's body was

cremated in a field about 300 feet from her wooden house. Posters

warning of bird flu are attached to coconut trees and house walls.

The village was quarantined, and 200 chickens and ducks were

destroyed. School teachers tell their students to avoid touching sick

birds.

" I will not touch dead chickens anymore because I am scared of bird

flu. My teacher said it can take our lives, " said Hem Pov, an 8-year-

old neighbor of the dead girl.