Broadcasting Time: 2006-05-21

Welcome to this edition of Reports from Developing Countries here on China Radio International. I'm Mike Patterson in Beijing.

In this edition: Another look at reducing the number of child labourers in South East Asia and scientists are on the trail of the latest bird flu infections in Indonesia.

Plus, we'll have other news from developing countries. Please stay with us.

Child labour is declining across the world according to the International Labour Organisation. The ILO says the numbers have fallen from 246 million to 218 million.

On this week's show, UN Radio's Jane Howard takes a look at the progress being made in Southeast Asia, where 122 million children between the ages of 5 to 15 still work long hours every day.

Pigs have tested positive for bird flu in the same village on Indonesia's Sumatra island where five people were confirmed to have been infected with the H5N1 avian flu virus.

The case involving up to seven family members, six of whom have died, raised the alarm around the world because authorities cannot rule out human-to-human transmission.

But the World Health Organisation and Indonesian health officials had been frustrated by the lack of evidence pointing to a source of the virus, usually infected poultry.

On-the-spot testing of various animals living around Kubu Simbelang village in North Sumatra had given negative results for avian influenza.
However, Indonesia's Agriculture Minister told reporters on Thursday the pig samples from the village had been brought to a leading animal research centre on Java island, and scientists there found a positive result for bird flu.

From 11 pig samples, 10 were positive. Confirmation tests are now underway.

Clusters of human infections are worrying because they indicate the virus might be mutating into a form that is easily passed among humans. For the moment, the virus is mainly a disease in birds and is hard for humans to catch.

If confirmed, the latest news could generate plenty of concern because pigs can act as mixing vessels in which human and bird flu viruses can swap genes, leading to a strain that can easily pass from person to person.

Pakistan's Minister for Narcotics Control says poppy cultivation has been almost eliminated in Pakistan and the country would become poppy free next year.

The Associated Press of Pakistan reports that in 2006, Pakistani authorities had destroyed poppy crops on some 3-thousand acres in different areas in North West Frontier Province and southwestern Pakistan's Baluchistan province.

The Pakistani government has been taking steps to persuade poppy growers to switch over to alternative crops and those efforts have produced results.

The A-P-P report says some 247 heroin labs have been destroyed since last year and there was no such clandestine unit functioning now in Pakistan.