The [him] moderator is reminded that the US sanctions don't touch this kind of assistance.

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U.S. helps Myanmar in bird flu fight
Aye Aye Win
Associated Press
12 March 2007

Yangon: The U.S. has provided Myanmar with $600,000 worth of equipment for
bird flu prevention after fresh outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 virus were
discovered on poultry farms, state media said Sunday.

The United States gives virtually no direct assistance to Myanmar's
military government because of its disapproval of the junta's poor record
on human rights and democracy, as well as its failure to suppress the drug
trade.

The assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development is being
channeled through the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, which on
Saturday signed an agreement with the government's Livestock Breeding and
Veterinary Department to provide the aid, the New Light of Myanmar
newspaper reported.

The report did not specify what equipment would be provided.

Myanmar livestock officials in the past two weeks told the World
Organization for Animal Health about two H5N1 outbreaks among poultry at
two farms on the outskirts of Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, which killed
a total of 79 birds.

More than 1,400 other birds were killed in an effort to stop the spread of
the disease.

"We are actively cooperating with international agencies and we need
assistance from international communities for prevention and control of
bird flu," Dr. Than Hla, director of the Livestock Research Department,
told The Associated Press.

Until the recent cases, Myanmar last reported an H5N1 outbreak among
poultry in March 2006.

The H5N1 virus has killed least 168 people worldwide since it began
ravaging Asian poultry farms in late 2003, according to the World Health
Organization. Myanmar has reported no human H5N1 cases, though neighboring
Thailand has reported 25 human infections, including 17 deaths, and Laos,
another neighbor, recently reported its first human case and fatality.

Bird flu remains hard for humans to catch. But health experts fear it may
mutate into a form that could spread easily between people and potentially
kill millions around the world.