Lack of institutional muscle threatens fight against bird flu, say African leaders

With four African countries stricken by avian flu - including one with a human infection - UN agencies and African leaders have called for sweeping measures to contain the deadly virus, notably the need to come up with funds on the world’s poorest continent.

Representatives of UN agencies and 46 African nations wrapped up a three-day conference in the Gabon capital Libreville on Wednesday, issuing an 18-point declaration on how to keep the virus in check.

The declaration calls for the creation in Africa of animal and human testing facilities essential for tracing and controlling outbreaks, saying current laboratory capacity is “weak or non-existent”.

The document said: “weak national institutional capacities…seriously hinder the implementation of preparedness and response plans”.

Even airlifting suspect specimens to Europe for testing is costly, and the declaration appealed to the International Aviation and Transport Agency to help facilitate transport.

In Africa, Nigeria, Niger, Egypt and Cameroon have detected cases of bird flu. Only Egypt has recorded a human infection to date.

In West Africa, where countries’ health infrastructures are weak and life-threatening illnesses like malaria are a daily battle, the arrival of the H5N1 virus - potentially fatal to humans - adds a considerable burden.

At the conference opening on Monday, Gabon President Omar Bongo said: “The impact of avian influenza is likely to compound the difficulties facing the population most of whom are already vulnerable. It can also weaken national health services and bring a new financial burden to our countries.”

African health experts too are counting on the will of the international community. At an ECOWAS meeting last week in the Malian capital Bamako, where agriculture and health experts reviewed the effectiveness of control efforts in West Africa, Samba Sidibe of the International Organisation for Animal Health called on international donors to step up. “We have had promises of funding from donors and institutions…We must have this funding on time.”

One country feeling the burden is Niger - among the world’s poorest countries, still reeling from 2005’s grave food shortages and now one of four African countries infected with avian flu. The vast arid nation estimates it will need about 12 billion CFA francs (US $23.6 million) to control the virus. To date it has about 6.5 percent of that amount.

Wednesday’s declaration underscores “the need for countries and the international community to mobilise additional technical and financial resources locally and internationally” and to facilitate quick access to funds so plans do not remain merely words on paper.

One of the greatest impacts of the avian flu virus seen to date has been socioeconomic - with farmers and vendors in suspect areas losing livestock and those in non-infected countries seeing business plummet for fear of bird flu.

The declaration calls for compensating affected farmers, re-stocking poultry and examining bird flu’s impact on people’s livelihoods.

The joint declaration calls on countries “to stringently enforce” H5N1 control measures laid out by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, including culling poultry, administering vaccinations, and controlling animal movement.

It also urges “firm political commitment at the highest level of government” and broad coordination for the fight against the virus, including NGOs and civil society.