January 18, 2006

US$1.9 billion pledged to fight bird flu

International donors pledged almost US$2 billion to fight bird flu in a Donor Conference in Beijing on Wednesday.

The World Bank had initially expected the conference to raise at least US$1.2 billion.

Half of the amount pledged will take the form of loans while the other half would be given in the form of grants, EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou told Reuters.

The United States pledged about US$334 million, saying the money would be mainly in the form of grants and technical assistance while the total EU pledge is about US$260 million.

Between US$100 million to US$200 million would go into a trust fund to be managed by the World Bank. Part of the funds would be managed jointly by donors and target countries. More than half the US$1.9 billion came from new donors who were not present in previous aid programmes.

China, host of the conference, pledged US$10 million. China was hit by about 30 outbreaks of bird flu in poultry last year and at least five human deaths since late 2005 with the latest cases in the south-western parts of the country.