November 11, 2005

World must help farmers fight bird flu, says EU health chief 

The world community needs to provide money to compensate poor farmers to fight bird flu in developing countries, a visiting senior EU official said Thursday.

EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said farmers must be given a financial incentive so that they are willing to report their sick birds.

"Backyard farms and the close contact between humans and birds is one of the risk factors," Kyprianou told reporters, emphasising the importance of using compensation as an incentive "so that farmers will not be afraid to disclose the existence of the disease in their house (or in their chickens)."

The international community should provide financial assistance to developing countries that are unable to offer compensation.

"It should not be just equipment and medical supplies, but we have to take into account these needs as well, which are just as important in tackling this problem," he said.

The H5N1 bird flu virus recently spread to Europe and has killed at least 63 people in Asia since 2003, with most of the deaths linked to direct contact with infected birds.

Thailand was Kyprianou's second stop after Vietnam on a Southeast Asian tour. He will go to Cambodia on Friday, return to Thailand on Saturday, and then visit Indonesia.

The EC has earmarked up to EUR30 million (US$35.7 million) to assist Asian nations in tackling bird flu in 2006. The allocation of money will be decided after an evaluation of needs following a bird flu conference in China on Jan 17-18, an EU news release said.