BIRD FLU POSES HIGH THREAT TO AFRICA

BIRD FLU POSES HIGH THREAT TO AFRICA

NEW YORK, 1 November (OCHA):  Along with neighbouring countries along the Rift Valley in eastern Africa, Ethiopia faces a new and imminent threat from avian influenza, according to the United Nations team in the country.

The bird flu that originated in Asia and is now sweeping across Europe and into the Middle East is expected to arrive in Africa in December 2005 with the arrival of millions of migratory birds.  The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that Kenya, United Republic of Tanzania and Ethiopia are more vulnerable to disease due to their lack of preparedness.  Ethiopia, along with other African countries, is now bracing itself for the worst.

As in Asia, the risk in Africa is high.  More than 85 per cent of Ethiopia’s 77.4 million inhabitants live in rural areas, in close proximity to their poultry, which increases the country’s risk of pandemic.  Ethiopia also lacks the infrastructure to police occurrences of the virus and to manage disease outbreaks.  The Government has admitted that if the virus spreads to the country, there are no controlling mechanisms in place.  The only way the country can protect itself is to be prepared.

The Government, the United Nations and its partners have already begun to take the necessary first steps in preparedness.  In collaboration with the WHO and other partners, the Ministry of Health has prepared a Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan, which requests $1 million for the initial phase of an estimated $53 million programme to deal with a possible pandemic.  An integrated Disease Surveillance and Response Task Force has been established in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank, the European Union, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, and the United States’ Centers for Disease Control.  A national task force has also been established under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to pre-empt the outbreak of the flu.

Also this week, the African Ministers of Agriculture are to meet in Kigali, Rwanda, to discuss the contingency plan being developed for the continent.  Last year, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and its partners developed a global strategy on avian influenza, which is currently being revised to take into account wild birds and their migratory movements.

For further information, please call:  Stephanie Bunker, OCHA-New York, tel: +1 917 367 5126, mobile +1 917 892 1679; Kristen Knutson, OCHA-New York, tel: +1 917 367 9262; Elizabeth Byrs, OCHA-Geneva, tel: +41 22 917 2653, mobile: +41 79 473 4570.

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For information media • not an official record