Myanmar Gets A Pat On The Back
Written by Stuart Stevens | Thursday, 19 April 2007 | There are 0 comments
Myanmar had responded extremely quickly and effectively...
The advantages of running a military dictatorship were made apparent recently in Myanmar after a serious series of outbreaks of the bird flu virus as the military took stock of this situation and immediately eradicated all of the infected birds. Myanmar which is normally in the news for flouting human rights laws and arresting dissidents who dare to speak against the ruling junta actually won praise and respect from the international community after they handled this recent bird flu crisis so efficiently. Over 45,000 birds were killed to try and stop the disease spreading and they have sealed off various areas where the disease had been found.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation said that the government of Myanmar had responded extremely quickly and effectively and that they were to be praised for their efforts. The United States who are among the biggest critics of the military dictatorship who rule the country of Myanmar gave them around $600,000 to aid in their efforts to eradicate birds infected with the H5N1 virus.
When a bird flu virus outbreak strikes decisive action that cannot be questioned or discussed needs to be taken. Any dithering and procrastination will only cause the disease to be spread more and will involve the deaths of more birds and should the pandemic become a human pandemic the need for strong leadership will be made extremely apparent. The challenges that governments face all over the world are whether they will be able to respond quickly to quarantine infected areas and get medication to these places quickly.
There is no doubt that some individuals will suffer as a result of tough and harsh decisions made by governments. In Myanmar the farmers who had all of their livestock killed are unlikely to get any compensation and were unlikely to have been consulted in any way about the destruction of their livelihood. However because it is all for the greater good of the country these things just have to be done.
