Africa alarmed by anti-bird flu funding slump

An AFP story datelined Addis Ababa: Africa alarmed by anti-bird flu funding slump. Excerpt:

African nations are concerned that a slump in funding from the international community could hamper their efforts to combat bird flu on the continent, officials said.

"The main challenge today in our efforts to combat bird flu in Africa is the level of funding," Modibo Traore, head of the African Union's Inter-African Bureau of Animal Resources, told AFP.

He was speaking after a meeting of experts designed to unify African efforts against the epidemic that wrapped up Friday in Addis Ababa.

"The trend is negative in the international community and among donors, who maybe expected the disease to have more dramatic effects," he explained.

Asia has been the worst-hit continent since the virus' deadly H5N1 strain first appeared in 2003 but human infections have also been reported in Egypt, Nigeria and Djibouti.

With a total of 38 human cases confirmed by the World Health Organisation and 15 deaths since the start of the year, Egypt has been one of the world's most affected countries in 2007.

The Addis Ababa meeting sponsored by the African Union was aimed at reassuring donors and coordinating strategies among the pan-African body's 53 member states.

The chairman of the World Organisation for Animal Health, Bernard Vallat, said the crisis was being contained but stressed that sustained efforts were needed to prevent further outbreaks.

"At an international level, the epidemic is receding among wild birds and poultry farms. But there are occasional outbreaks in Ghana and Togo," he said. No human cases have been detected in the two countries, which border Nigeria.

"It's reassuring that after three years, the virus still isn't being transmitted from human to human, but we have to remain vigilant because the risk of a pandemic is still serious," Vallat added.