Press Release

Global avian influenza control project receives US$1 million grant from OPEC Fund

10/2006 March 14, 2006, Vienna, Austria
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The OPEC Fund for International Development today approved a grant of US$1 million towards a Global Avian Influenza Control Project developed jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), in collaboration with the World Health Organization. Goals of the initiative are to assist affected countries in controlling, and ultimately eradicating, avian influenza, and preparing non-infected, at-risk countries for carrying out swift detection and response measures.

The continuing outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) that began in several Southeast Asian countries in late 2003 and early 2004 have been disastrous to the poultry industry and have raised serious global health concerns. Over 150 million domestic poultry have either died or been destroyed, and at least 100 people have contracted the infection (via human-poultry transmission), of which almost 60 have died. Despite control measures, the disease continues to spread, causing enormous economic losses and threatening the livelihoods of millions of poor farmers.

In order to minimize the risk of a global threat of the disease, the FAO and the OIE began a stepwise process in developing a global strategy for HPAI control and eradication measures, the first stage of which created a strategy for Southeast Asia. Due to the recent spread of the virus to other regions, the strategy has been expanded to encompass Central, South and East Asia, the Arab region, Africa, the Americas and Europe. Long-term goals are to diminish the threat of a human pandemic, stabilize poultry production, increase food safety and improve the incomes of the rural poor.

The multi-faceted initiative comprises four key components: coordinating and managing the international response to HPAI, at both a global and regional level; providing technical support to infected countries in their efforts to control and eradicate the disease; assisting at-risk countries with their preparedness efforts; and providing resources to enable a rapid response in newly-infected countries. Other strategies will include facilitating research to investigate the epidemiology of avian influenza; evaluating the efficacy of vaccines in domestic ducks; studying HPAI transmission dynamics in migratory birds; and working in close collaboration with regional and international advanced research institutions and wildlife institutions to promote the development of vaccines and rapid diagnostic tests.