Hanoi (Vietnam), April 13. (AP): Vietnam will receive $38 million (euro28 million) in grants and loans to fight bird flu and prepare for a potential pandemic, the World Bank announced on Thursday.

The project will focus on 11 high-priority provinces across the country, the World Bank said in a statement. It is intended to control the spread of the H5N1 virus in poultry and prevent human infections, while helping the country prepare for a potential pandemic.

Under the agreement, the World Bank will lend Vietnam $20 million (euro15 million) at low interest rates. The European Union and Japan will provide grants of $10 million (euro7.4 million) and $5 million (euro3.7 million), respectively, and Vietnam will contribute $3 million (euro2.2 million).

The three-year project will begin in 2008, and details are still being worked out.

Bird flu has killed 42 people in Vietnam since the virus began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003. The last human cases were reported in the country in November in 2005.

The virus has killed 172 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, and experts fear it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, potentially igniting a pandemic. So far, most human cases have been linked to contact with infected birds.

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