April 11, 2006

UN expert says Cambodians need incentives to report sick birds

A top United Nations bird flu expert said Monday (Apr 10) that Cambodian villagers have failed to report sick birds because they have little or no incentive to do so.

A 12-year-old boy, from the south-eastern province of Prey Veng, died from bird flu last Wednesday, two weeks after a 3-year-old girl succumbed in a village south-west of the capital, Phnom Penh. Both died after coming in contact with sick fowl.

"In both cases, the village knew about the dangers of these diseased birds, but somehow that knowledge was not turned and put into practice," David Nabarro, the UN's chief coordinator for bird flu, told a news conference in Bangkok. "In both cases, the diseased birds should not really have been there."

Nabarro stopped in Thailand during a regional tour to assess countries' flu pandemic preparedness and the work being done to combat bird flu in poultry. Before arriving in Thailand, he had visited Vietnam, China and Laos and will next travel to Indonesia.

Throughout South-east Asia, villagers who report their sick birds to authorities for culling are meant to be compensated for the market price of the bird.

Nabarro said UN officials have been trying to establish why villagers are not telling authorities when their birds die and "whether that means that the incentive payments for reporting are either not getting through or are not sufficient".

UN officials were discussing with the Cambodian government the best way to administer payments, he said.

"It's a question of ensuring that the government is comfortable about some of the challenges of administering a cash compensation scheme. These are not easy to administer, and governments need to feel confident they've got the right mechanisms to do so," he said.