UN: Africa is on the front line for BF

INTERVIEW-Africa now a front line for bird flu-UN 04 Apr 2006 12:27:34 GMT Source: Reuters

(Adds WHO comments throughout)

By Chris Buckley

BEIJING, April 4 (Reuters) - African countries must receive increased funds and support to combat bird flu as Asia braces for possible wider human outbreaks, the U.N. bird flu coordinator said on Tuesday.

David Nabarro said $1.9 billion of grants and loans pledged in Beijing in January helped Asian nations bolster monitoring and prepare for outbreaks. The money was now beginning to be spent.

"For certain countries, the resources available are very promising and have started to flow," he told Reuters.

But Nabarro said poor African countries would need more funds and advice to cope with the H5N1 virus, which has travelled there from Asia via Europe and the Middle East.

"For certain other countries, particularly those that are newly affected by avian influenza, particularly countries in Africa, the resources have not yet started to move in the amount that we want," he said.

Nabarro, who steers U.N. efforts to contain H5N1 and preparations to battle a pandemic if the virus mutates and spreads easily from person to person, said he was worried by bird flu's sudden spread from Asia to the rest of the world.

"Globally there has been an enormously rapid spread of H5N1 ... This is a really serious global situation," he said.

Nabarro, who is in Beijing for meetings to discuss Chinese measures to fight bird flu, said he hoped China could also share its expertise with developing countries just starting to grapple with the virus.

"Perhaps the most important thing that I would wish to happen is that Chinese officials ... have a chance to interact with colleagues from governments who are just beginning the struggle."

The H5N1 virus remains mainly a disease of poultry, but could spark a pandemic that could kill millions of people, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). It has already killed at least 107 people globally since 2003.

How to establish early warnings on bird flu to prevent a pandemic was also on the agenda for U.S. Secretary for Homeland Security Michael Chertoff during his visit to Beijing.

"This is where forming relationships and talking about these things in advance of the problem pays real dividends in terms of elevating everybody's ability to respond to a medical emergency," he told reporters.

But there are still criticisms that China is impeding cooperation on the virus by not being open enough.

Last month it agreed to share virus samples from bird flu outbreaks in poultry after months of WHO requests, and the samples should finally be shipped within "a matter of days", said Julie Hall, who leads the WHO's outbreak response in China.

Despite requests, information on two recent human deaths from bird flu in Shanghai and in the southern province of Guangdong had still not been provided, Hall said. (Additional reporting by Lindsay Beck)