Bird flu – show us the money, urge SADC countries

JOHANNESBURG – Southern African countries have expressed confidence about dealing with an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu but funding for country plans remains elusive.

Representatives of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU) and a number of international health and humanitarian organisations concluded a three-day workshop in South Africa last week to assess SADC member states’ level of preparedness for dealing with an avian influenza pandemic. “The main concern that came out of the conference was the difficulty of mobilising the necessary resources,” Dr Modibo Traore, Director of the AU’s InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources and Chairperson of the workshop, told Irin.”All countries have national preparedness plans – at least in draft form – and most have already started implementing them,” noted Gabriella Waaijman, humanitarian officer at the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.Risk assessments and recommendations were also presented.”This is a confirmation that countries are taking preparedness very seriously in the region,” she observed.But capacity restraints and lack of funding might throw a spanner in the works as countries start putting their plans into operation, Waaijman warned.”International donors have pledged funds, but for many SADC member states it is still very unclear how they can access these funds to implement their programmes.”At a conference in Beijing on 17 January, international donors pledged US$1,9 billion to support a global fund to combat bird flu.”One of the promises made at the Beijing conference was that funding procedures would become better and more flexible, but we have not seen that yet,” Traore noted.Laura Tuck, an Agricultural, Environmental and Social Development Director for Latin America at the World Bank, told Irin: “Countries are expected to develop an avian influenza programme, following guidelines set out by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, the Organisation for Animal Health and the World Health Organisation (WHO), and countries that follow these guidelines should be eligible for funding.”Resources would be made available for capacity building in terms of monitoring, prevention, testing and response, “depending on certain criteria, such as poverty and the event of an outbreak”, said Truck.But “WHO, for example, does not want individual countries to stock enormous amounts of Tamiflu [currently the only medication for bird flu in humans] because there is a global stock that can be moved if necessary”, she noted.”Some African countries, such as Nigeria, where H5N1 has been confirmed, have already submitted proposals for funding,” Truck said.According to Waaijman, “Overall capacity in the region is a big problem, particularly for general surveillance of and response to communicable diseases, and veterinary and human health services.And even though a human pandemic is still far off, HIV-AIDS has already overstretched capacity.”Besides the immediate need for funding, “a number of structural challenges will remain – Swaziland, for example, only has four vets working in public service and five in private service – that is something that can only be solved in the longer term”, she pointed out.A delegate at the conference observed that “a number of countries have a better capacity to be well prepared, such as South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, whilst others, like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe were ‘suspiciously well prepared’”.Levels of preparedness varied between SADC member states, and those better placed to face the epidemic were encouraged to assist less prepared countries.”For capacity issues we can find a solution through exchanges within the [SADC] region – we think countries can help each other – but in terms of finding resources, it is clear that we have a problem,” Traore said.Tuck explained that not all the money [US$1,9 billion] pledged would be in the form of grants, as some of it would be loaned.A total of US$366 million was pledged for grants by the European Union [European Commission and member states combined], US$334 million by the United States, US$159 million by Japan, US$40 million by Russia and US$10 million by China.The Asian Development Bank has approved US$368 million in loans, while the World Bank has made US$500 million available for borrowing.- Irin News”The main concern that came out of the conference was the difficulty of mobilising the necessary resources,” Dr Modibo Traore, Director of the AU’s InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources and Chairperson of the workshop, told Irin.”All countries have national preparedness plans – at least in draft form – and most have already started implementing them,” noted Gabriella Waaijman, humanitarian officer at the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.Risk assessments and recommendations were also presented.”This is a confirmation that countries are taking preparedness very seriously in the region,” she observed.But capacity restraints and lack of funding might throw a spanner in the works as countries start putting their plans into operation, Waaijman warned.”International donors have pledged funds, but for many SADC member states it is still very unclear how they can access these funds to implement their programmes.”At a conference in Beijing on 17 January, international donors pledged US$1,9 billion to support a global fund to combat bird flu.”One of the promises made at the Beijing conference was that funding procedures would become better and more flexible, but we have not seen that yet,” Traore noted.Laura Tuck, an Agricultural, Environmental and Social Development Director for Latin America at the World Bank, told Irin: “Countries are expected to develop an avian influenza programme, following guidelines set out by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, the Organisation for Animal Health and the World Health Organisation (WHO), and countries that follow these guidelines should be eligible for funding.”Resources would be made available for capacity building in terms of monitoring, prevention, testing and response, “depending on certain criteria, such as poverty and the event of an outbreak”, said Truck.But “WHO, for example, does not want individual countries to stock enormous amounts of Tamiflu [currently the only medication for bird flu in humans] because there is a global stock that can be moved if necessary”, she noted.”Some African countries, such as Nigeria, where H5N1 has been confirmed, have already submitted proposals for funding,” Truck said.According to Waaijman, “Overall capacity in the region is a big problem, particularly for general surveillance of and response to communicable diseases, and veterinary and human health services.And even though a human pandemic is still far off, HIV-AIDS has already overstretched capacity.”Besides the immediate need for funding, “a number of structural challenges will remain – Swaziland, for example, only has four vets working in public service and five in private service – that is something that can only be solved in the longer term”, she pointed out.A delegate at the conference observed that “a number of countries have a better capacity to be well prepared, such as South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, whilst others, like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe were ‘suspiciously well prepared’”.Levels of preparedness varied between SADC member states, and those better placed to face the epidemic were encouraged to assist less prepared countries.”For capacity issues we can find a solution through exchanges within the [SADC] region – we think countries can help each other – but in terms of finding resources, it is clear that we have a problem,” Traore said.Tuck explained that not all the money [US$1,9 billion] pledged would be in the form of grants, as some of it would be loaned.A total of US$366 million was pledged for grants by the European Union [European Commission and member states combined], US$334 million by the United States, US$159 million by Japan, US$40 million by Russia and US$10 million by China.The Asian Development Bank has approved US$368 million in loans, while the World Bank has made US$500 million available for borrowing.- Irin News