A global action plan to control avian influenza in chickens and ducks and at the same time to “limit the threat” of a human flu pandemic was adopted last week at a World Health Organization conference.
The conference's 600 participants from more than 100 countries included experts on animal and human health, senior policy makers, representatives from donor agencies and industry, economists, and top health officials from countries affected by avian flu or at risk.
Led by WHO, the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the World Organization for Animal Health, the conference took three days to hammer out a detailed plan of action and, equally important, to put a “ballpark” estimate of what the plan would cost in the short term and in the long term.
“Investments are urgently needed at national level, potentially reaching $1bn [£0.6bn; €0.9bn] over the next three years,” said Dr Lee Jong-wook, WHO's director general. “An additional $35m are needed immediately to support high priority actions by technical agencies at the global level over the next six months.”
The £1bn does not include financing for the development of a human or animal vaccine, for antiviral drugs, or for compensation to farmers whose birds have been culled.
A donors' funding conference to determine who will contribute how much will be held in Beijing at the invitation of the government of China on 17 and 18 January.
Opinion differed about the inevitability of a human flu pandemic. Some participants referred to it as “if and when” and as “a potential pandemic.” Louise Fresco, assistant director general of Food and Agriculture Organization, expressed “mild optimism.” However, others, including Dr Lee and David Nabarro, the senior UN system coordinator for avian and human influenza, considered it a matter of “not if but when” and “just a matter of time.”
But everyone seemed to agree that the best hope, perhaps the only hope, of avoiding a human pandemic was to control bird flu at the source.
This required “improving veterinary services, emergency preparedness plans, and control campaigns, including culling, vaccination, and compensation to farmers.” It also meant improved surveillance, including “strengthening early detection and rapid response systems for animal and human influenza, and building and strengthening laboratory capacity.”
The agreed global action plan also described “factual and transparent communications, in particular risk communication, [as] vital.” The “open sharing of virus samples” was “essential,” it said.
In regard to the role of wild birds, Dr Fresco said that “we know that the virus is being spread by [them], but we need more research to fully understand their role.”
In his closing remarks Dr Lee said that “at present many governments are not ready to cope with outbreaks, still less a pandemic.”