June 8, 2006

 

Africa needs up to US$1 billion against bird flu

 

 

The United Nation's bird flu chief said Wednesday (Jun 7) that the three-year estimate of funds needed to stem the deadly virus in Africa could be as high as US$1 billion.

 

David Nabarro noted that funds pledged at a donor's conference in Beijing in January--when the disease was primarily in Asia and entering eastern Europe--totalled around US$1.9 billion.

 

"Now, we've got a situation where the disease is moving quite energetically into Africa, and new countries are reporting bird flu at quite frequent intervals," he told reporters in Vienna.

 

"Proportionally, it certainly seems to me to be appropriate that the three-year estimate for Africa" is between US$500 million and US$1 billion, Nabarro said.

 

Nabarro stressed it was important not to get caught up with long-term figures, but to focus on rapid delivery for countries that needed the money now.

 

"We need money to be moving into Africa in support of countries really very quickly ... good money that's nice and flexible," he said at a news conference following the a two-day meeting of high-level officials from more than 70 countries and international institutions, including the WHO and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

 

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed 128 people worldwide since it began spreading in Asia in late 2003. It also is being blamed for the death or slaughter of some 200 million birds.

 

The Vienna meeting was a follow-up to the gathering in Beijing, where more than 30 countries pledged nearly US$1.9 billion to fight the deadly virus.

 

But so far only US$286 million has been disbursed and US$1 billion has been committed, Austrian Health Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat said earlier Wednesday, effectively confirming a World Bank draft report obtained by The Associated Press on Sunday.

 

High-level officials will next meet in Africa in six months for a similar meeting, and then in India a year from now. Within the next six months, all countries who pledged funds in Beijing should commit them, Nabarro said.

 

Earlier Wednesday, Paula Dobriansky, US undersecretary of state for democracy and global affairs, said the US would disburse the remainder of the money it committed earlier this year--a total of US$334 million.

 

"We're working very aggressively and I would say very expeditiously," she said.

 

Dobriansky said the US would increase its contribution for bird flu by US$28 million. She said so far US$70 million in US help has been disbursed.