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Health experts agree $1 billion bird flu plan

Posted on: Wednesday, 9 November 2005, 13:19 CST

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)

Source: REUTERS

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