October 5, 2006

 

Philippines to draw up bird flu containment plans

 

 

The Philippine health secretary asked town mayors Wednesday (Oct 4) to prepare bird flu containment plans to control any local outbreak and safeguard the country, which is among the few in Asia that have stayed free of the disease.

 

A bird flu outbreak could have a devastating impact on people and businesses in affected communities and eventually on the national economy, Francisco Duque told mayors at a one-day meeting organised by his department and the Asian Development Bank.

 

"Every local government, every community should be able to draft a local preparedness and action plan," Duque told the mayors. "Only when action starts in communities can we control and contain a budding epidemic from turning into a deadly national disaster."

 

Once in place, a containment plan should be tested and refined "like an earthquake drill," Duque said, adding bird flu is one problem that's best dealt with at the grassroots level.

 

About 25 town mayors from across the country attended the Manila meeting, which aimed to encourage local governments to commit budgets and personnel to efforts to prevent bird flu and other emerging infectious diseases, the Manila-based ADB said in a statement.

 

The mayors realised the gravity of bird flu and proposed that teams in every village or barangay, the smallest political unit in the country, be trained to prevent any outbreak and spot any sign of infection that could be investigated by experts, the ADB said.

 

The ADB has helped finance a fund, which has been used by the Philippines and other Asian countries, to deal with the bird flu threat.

 

A low-risk bird flu outbreak was found at a duck farm north of Manila last year but authorities said the country remains free of the deadly H5N1 strain that has ravaged other South-east Asian poultry industries. About 230 ducks were culled following the discovery of that low-risk infection.

 

The Philippines, which has a significant poultry industry, has taken a number of precautionary measures, including strict bans on poultry imports from affected countries, in an effort to keep the H5N1 strain out.