New centre to tackle bird flu across Africa

The World Organisation for Animal Health, or OIE, has set up its first regional control centre in Africa with the aim of coordinating measures against bird flu, which is threatening livelihoods and health across the continent. Centre head Samba Sidibe told IRIN after the special opening in June that Africa is particularly vulnerable to the threat of the deadly H5N1 virus. “Avian flu represents a serious threat to agriculture and in particular the fight against poverty,” said Sidibe. And often, said Sidibe, shortages of funds prevent the establishment of projects to tackle animal diseases such as bird flu. The new centre to date is the OIE’s only regional office in Africa. The OIE aims to collate and disseminate veterinary information and safeguard world trade by producing health guidelines for international trade in animals, among other things. Africa’s first recorded case of H5N1 was in Nigeria in February and since then the disease has killed hundreds of thousands of poultry through eight countries, from Cote d’Ivoire in West Africa to Egypt in the north east, according to figures from the World Health Organisation. ac/ss/ccr