UN agency calls for $20 million to halt spread of ‘highly virulent' avian flu in West Africa
NEW
DELHI, 20 July 2015 / PRN Africa / -- The United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) today warned that without timely
intervention “to stop it in its tracks,” outbreaks of the highly
virulent avian flu virus H5N1, which has already spread to five West
African countries in six months, will spread across the region and
beyond.
“Based on what we do know, there is a real risk of
further virus spread,” FAO quoted Juan Lubroth, chief of the agency's
Animal Health Service Division as saying in a press release. “Urgent
action is needed to strengthen veterinary investigation and reporting
systems in the region and tackle the disease at the root, before there
is a spillover to humans.”
Outbreaks of the virus have been
reported in poultry farms, markets and family holdings in Nigeria,
Burkina Faso, Niger, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.
FAO said the
outbreak comes as countries across West Africa, home to 330 million
people, are still recovering from, and in some cases still battling,
Ebola, which has mainly affected Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Previous
strains of the virus – known to be highly virulent to poultry and
capable of causing illness and fatalities in humans – have been
circulating in Asia since the early 2000s and in Egypt for almost 10
years. The H5N1 strain has caused the death of tens of millions of
poultry and losses of tens of billions of dollars.
Avian flu in
West Africa could trigger a mass “die-off” of chicken – a nutritious and
inexpensive source of food for many people – with detrimental impacts
on diets and on the economy of the region, exacerbating an already
difficult situation, the agency said.
“We're looking at a disease
– H5N1 – that has already spread to five countries in six months. We
have to make a concerted effort to stop it in its tracks and we have to
do it now,” Mr. Lubroth said.
FAO is appealing for $20 million
for prevention and response to bolster weak veterinary systems, improve
the capabilities of local laboratories and putting FAO specialists on
the ground in affected and at-risk countries.
Because the disease
can be transmitted to humans and is considered highly lethal, FAO said
it is working closely with the World Health Organization (WHO) on
country assessments, contingency plans, offering technical assistance
and investigating potential flu cases and the source of infection.
SOURCE UN News Centre
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