Bird flu Kyrgyzstan and Turkey are expected to receive soon the first international assistance to tackle bird flu, following a donors’ meeting that begins in Beijing on Tuesday.
Indonesia, Vietnam and Turkey’s neighbours Armenia and Georgia are likely to be next in line, as disbursements begin from a package of zero-interest loans and grants administered by the World Bank from more than $1.2bn (€1bn, £660m) in pledges.
The meeting comes as Turkey reports the number of suspected human infections from the H5N1 virus has risen to 19, and a fresh World Bank estimate suggests that a 2 per cent loss of global GDP during a pandemic is not “unreasonable”. So far 79 humans have died from the virus.
James Adams, World Bank vice-president for operations policy and country services, said he expected the US, the European Union, Japan and the Asian Development Bank to donate more than three-quarters of the funds sought at the two-day meeting.
However, he said Russia and countries from the Middle East, which are threatened by migratory bird routes, had also expressed interest in providing assistance.
“The Turkey incidents have certainly refocused people’s minds,” he added.
Mr Adams said pharmaceutical groups would be attending the donors’ gathering, as World Health Organisation officials negotiate with Roche, the Swiss-based supplier of the antiviral drug Tamiflu, over donations or cut-price deliveries to help build up stockpiles.
The draft Beijing declaration, under discussion this week, stresses the importance of short-term measures to prevent and control the spread of bird flu in poultry and prevent direct human exposure. It says these should be combined with longer term measures to boost infrastructure in animal and human public health systems, and to limit the impact of infection among the poorest people.
Kyrgyzstan is set to receive grants of $6m from the World Bank and Japan next month to strengthen livestock veterinary services and health systems. Turkey will follow with a likely package of loans and grants amounting to $30m.
