The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) pledged 7.3 million U.S. dollars to help Vietnam implement two projects on preventing and combating bird flu, the Vietnam News reported Thursday.

The documents relating to the projects were signed by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Diep Kinh Tan and FAO Representative Andrew Speedy here on Wednesday.

The two projects cover the provision of technical assistance for improvement of preparedness in response to the highly pathogenic avian influenza A viruses of the H5 and H7 HA subtypes (HPAI) and date collection in service of shifting of H5N1 vaccination strategy in Vietnam, Xinhua reported.

The Vietnamese government has spent almost 130 million U.S. dollars from the State budget for the prevention and control of bird flu.
Vietnam has reported four human cases of bird flu so far this year, three of them died.

In 2008, bird flu killed five people in Vietnam.