Health experts agree $1 billion bird flu plan

By David Evans and Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) – International health experts agreed a $1
billion program on Wednesday to halt the spread of the deadly
bird flu virus and avert a pandemic in which millions of people
could die.

David Nabarro, the U.N.’s chief bird flu coordinator, said
the international community was much better placed to handle
the threat from bird flu after the three-day meeting.

“What is important to me is there has been consensus and
clarity, much better coordination. We’ll be much quicker to
control avian influenza as a result,” Nabarro told reporters
after a meeting hosted by the World Health Organization.

“If the pandemic starts, there’s a pretty good chance it
will be smaller as a result of the work we’ve done in the past
three days than it would have been otherwise,” he said.

H5N1 bird flu has killed more than 60 people and led to 150
million birds being culled in Asia where it is endemic in many
poultry flocks. It has now spread to birds in Russia, Romania,
Turkey and Croatia and experts fear Africa may be next.

Although it remains hard for humans to catch, scientists
say that, like all influenza viruses, H5N1 is steadily mutating
and could acquire the genetic changes that make it easy to pass
among humans, which could spark a pandemic killing millions.

The strategy agreed by hundreds of health officials aims to
bolster early warning systems and veterinary services, make
access to anti-viral drugs fairer and step up research into
vaccines against a pandemic strain.

“Fighting the disease in animals is key to our success in
limiting the threat of a human pandemic,” said Louise Fresco,
assistant director-general of the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO).

WHO chief Lee Jong-Wook said donor mechanisms were in place
and funds should target poorer countries. “Investments are
urgently needed at the national level, potentially reaching $1
billion over the next three years,” he said.

The Chinese government announced that a donor conference,
co-sponsored by the World Bank and European Commission is
scheduled to take place on January 17-18 in Beijing.

ADB BOOSTS FUNDING

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) also said it was making an
extra $300 million available to help fight bird flu in worst
affected countries such as Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

The meeting supported a request for $35 million to fund
high-priority actions by the WHO, FAO and World Animal Health
Organization (OIE) over the next six months, a statement said.

The World Bank said its proposed package, focusing on
“country-owned programs” in developing nations, would offer
grants or interest-free loans, and half of the funds would come
from donors.

Jim Adams, World Bank vice-president for operations policy
and country services, presented what he called a flexible
framework that would also link major international agencies.

“The minute there are more regions or countries with animal
outbreaks or human-to-human transmission, the funding needs
will increase hugely,” he added.

Adams said the problem had been recognized as exceptional
at the Geneva talks and he was upbeat about donor pledging
prospects. “It leaves me optimistic we will be reasonably
successful in China,” he told a news conference.

“Time is of the essence,” the WHO’s top pandemic influenza
official Margaret Chan said. “We must act now if we are to have
the maximum possible opportunity to contain a pandemic.”

However, she said the strategy did not cover funding for
measures in the event of widespread human-to-human
transmission.

Chan said $500 million was a “ballpark” figure for the
amount needed to be invested in the production of antiviral
drugs and in the development of a pandemic strain vaccine.

For FACTBOX on details of plan, double click on

(Additional reporting by Patricia Reaney)