Avian Flu Awareness Campaign in Saudi Arabia

Running head: AVIAN FLU AWARENESS CAMPAIGN IN SAUDI ARABIA
AVIAN FLU AWARENESS CAMPAIGN IN SAUDI ARABIA
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1AVIAN FLU AWARENESS CAMPAIGN IN SAUDI ARABIA
Avian flu virus have been in the news for its recent outbreaks, the origin being in
Cambodia (Horwood et al.,2017).In 2015, the Government of Saudi Arabia have
implemented a national awareness campaign against bird flu as a part of public health
measure introduction. The main objective of this campaign is to introduce the various
preventive measures for preventing the entry of H5N1 virus into Saudi Arabian Kingdom.
This campaign has originated in 2015 with the advent of increasing cases of bird flu.
According to recent reports from the World Health Organisation, birds are the main
carriers of transmission for avian flu viruses. Common agents of transmission includes birds
and there are some cases regarding bird to human transmission, which have been reported by
some countries. Apart from close interaction with pigs, or farms, which deal with poultry and
pigs, which have been exhibited, cases of limited transmission from person to person, have
also occurred (who.int, 2019). According to statistical reports from World Health
Organization, first cases of avian flu have been reported in Saudi Arabia in April, and
November 2007 followed by February 2008 with no further cases of outbreaks after that.
However many cases haven reported in Vietnam and Indonesia over the last decade (H5N1
avian influenza: Timeline of major events, 2019). Overall, cases of avian flu outbreaks and its
transmission from human to human have not yet been reported in Saudi Arabia.
The government has introduced several preventive measure for effective control of
the disease among citizens. The first step includes administration of anti-avian drugs against
influenza like Tamiflu, to the vulnerable populations, like laboratory workers, poultry
members. Moreover, proper enforcement of rules and instructions of effective control in
laboratories and hospitals is required .Co-ordination between governmental authorities are
effective. After implementation of the given measures, citizens have been benefitted as the
cases of avian flu have been under control.