West Africa Works on Plan to Contain Bird Flu

By Diadie Ba and Alistair Thomson

DAKAR — Ministers and experts from across West Africa met on Wednesday to draft a plan to contain the bird flu virus as the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned of a looming regional disaster.

The H5N1 bird flu strain confirmed in Nigeria earlier this month has killed 92 people in Asia and the Middle East since 2003 and triggered the culling of millions of domestic fowl.

Experts fear that in Africa, where chickens live in millions of homes, the virus could spread rapidly and largely undetected due to a scarcity of health, veterinary and laboratory services.

"First of all we need laboratory analysis," said Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade, who convened the two-day summit in the capital Dakar, in an interview with Reuters and the BBC.

The meeting aimed to establish an observation network across West Africa to ensure prompt testing of sick poultry, Wade said.

He suggested countries bordering Nigeria such as Niger and Benin should have observation centres to help detect any spread of the disease, with centres also in Senegal and Mali.

Wade said the conference aimed to discuss how large-scale vaccinations or culls should be carried out if H5N1 spreads.

In Rome, the FAO praised Nigeria’s efforts to control the virus, but recommended the government prepare for vaccinations which it said would require thousands of veterinarians.

"The deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus continues to spread in poultry in Nigeria and could cause a regional disaster," the FAO said in a statement.

Four Nigerians, including a woman who died last week, will be tested for bird flu after suffering respiratory problems during their illness, a World Health Organization (WHO) spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said it was ready to train African lab technicians to test for bird flu to help improve facilities for massive bird flu screening.

"Most laboratories in West Africa are not yet ready to provide services needed, which will be massive … it is very urgent across the whole of Africa," OIE Director General Bernard Vallat told reporters on the sidelines of the Dakar meeting.

ECONOMIC THREAT

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said bird flu posed a threat to regional economic growth and trade.

Niger, which borders bird-flu affected northern Nigeria, had seen a 50 to 60 percent drop in poultry sales in the capital Niamey, threatening an industry worth $11 million a year in one of the poorest countries on earth, it said.

"There is a real threat to many (ECOWAS) member states," ECOWAS Executive Secretary Mohammed Ibn Chambas said in a speech delivered on his behalf.

Wade highlighted the threat to West Africa posed by birds migrating from Asia, the continent hardest hit by bird flu, and Europe, where the H5N1 strain has been detected this month in wild birds in a number of countries.

"There are millions and millions of birds coming from Asia, South Africa and Europe and we are wondering what we can do with that," he said, adding that he had written to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan on Wednesday to seek advice on the problem.

Wetlands in Senegal and its neighbours Mauritania and Gambia attract large numbers of wild birds, many of them rare.

"We manage these parks for humanity, in the interests of ecological balance and biodiversity. Humanity must face up to its responsibilities," Wade told delegates at the meeting.

He hoped the Dakar summit would improve cooperation with the international institutions involved in fighting bird flu.

Last month international donors pledged $1.9 billion to help poor countries improve health and veterinary services and improve global surveillance systems to counter bird flu, but countries must submit funding requests for specific projects.

"I’m sure that they will help, but it’s up to us to define what we need," Wade said.