2007-2008

“For ten years now, I’ve never missed a single Chinese fair,” says Ly Thi Xuan, who is of the Hoa ethnic group from Pho Bang town in Dong Van district, Ha Giang province in north-eastern Vietnam.

 The ‘Chinese fair’ is a weekly one held just five kilometres from this town -- but across the border in Yunnan, China, with which mountainous Ha Giang shares a border. Like Ly Thi Xuan, Pho Bang residents consider this fair in Ma Pung commune in Dong Cac district in Yunnan a big event, akin to a fair.

Female employees at a Chinese garment factory. 

PHNOM PENH (Imaging Our Mekong)- The air was choking hot; the sun shone brightly. Motorcycles were weaving their way through the busy traffic of vehicles and pedestrians as dust flew around on the outskirts of the Cambodian capital. Row upon row of establishments flashed by, before we came upon an inconspicuous sign with five Chinese characters: ‘Jia Hua Gong Ye Yuan’, or the Jiahua Industrial Park.

Whether in Bangkok or in Beijing, many people in the Mekong region find avian flu something far removed from their everyday lives. Yet the signs are all around, as the disease, which affects animals and humans, continues to spread in the region.

BANGKOK, Dec 21 (IPS) - New cases of avian influenza across Asia in recent weeks confirm warnings that the deadly virus still lurks in the region and raise questions of gaps in efforts to contain it in affected communities.

A selection of photographs -- the work of photojournalists and writers under the Imaging Our Mekong programme -- will be on exhibit at the Second International Forum on Water and Food in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from Nov. 10-14, 2008.

MANILA, Oct 8 (IPS) - So where is the pandemic? This is a question most often asked of health experts years after they warned about a pandemic influenza that could infect up to 35 percent of the world's population.

BANGKOK (Newsmekong) - Livestock officials have been instructed to carry out extensive checks on poultry farms across Thailand and rehearse precautions to safeguard against avian influenza amid fears the disease could make a comeback during the monsoon season.