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| November 29, 2006 |
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| $1 Billion More Needed for Bird Flu |
WASHINGTON - November 29, 2006. As much as $1.3 billion more is needed to fight bird flu, with more than
$500 million of that going to Africa, World Bank and UN experts said on
Tuesday.
This is on top of the $1.9 billion pledged at a World Bank conference in
Beijing last January, said World Bank Economic Adviser Olga Jonas, who
will present her official estimates to a meeting of bird flu experts that
begins next Wednesday in Bamako, Mali. …
[In an interview] Jonas said
globally, between $980 million and $1.3 billion is needed over the next
two to three years to fight bird flu. The money would go for everything
from rubber gloves and disinfectants to cash compensation to people whose
birds are culled if H5N1 is detected. Some money has gone to African
countries, but $566 million more is needed, she said, quoting figures
prepared for the 4th International Conference on Avian Influenza,
sponsored by the European Union, European Commission and the African
Union. …[Reuters/Factiva]
At the time of Beijing, in January 2006, the virus had not yet
appeared anywhere in Africa, or in Eastern Europe, or the Middle East,’
Jonas said. She said that today about 50 countries have been hit by bird
flu, against only a dozen when the Beijing conference was held 11 months
ago. At next month's gathering in Mali's capital, according to UN avian
influenza coordinator David Nabarro, ‘we'll be looking not just at the
needs of Africa but that will be a central focus of the discussion.
[Agence France Presse/Factiva]
Nabarro told reporters that many Asian countries including Vietnam,
Thailand and China have made substantial progress in programs to cull infected flocks and quickly control outbreaks of the virus. But I'm
afraid that the danger is still very much there, Nabarro said. …[The
Associated Press/Factiva]
Asia's latest bird flu outbreak in South Korea, its first in three
years, showed that no country could let their guard down. The outbreak is
not a surprise. If you look at South Korea, they are handling the outbreak
very effectively as they did last time, Director of the Food and
Agriculture Organization's Animal Production And Health Division, Samuel
Jutzi, said in an interview.
[According to Jutzi, while Vietnam, China and Thailand have made great strides,] the international community should continue to help Indonesia, where authorities confirmed the country's 57th bird flu death on Tuesday, as well as impoverished Laos and Cambodia. [Reuters/Factiva]
Source: The World Bank |
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