FAO workshop on avian influenza

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has completed a two-day workshop aimed at increasing awareness about the highly pathogenic avian influenza, more commonly referred to as bird flu, in the capital Kabul, the UN agency announced on Monday.

Afghanistan depends on poultry imports from neighbouring Pakistan and Iran, and it’s also a stop for birds during their annual migration from Siberia to the warmer weather of the Indian subcontinent.

So far there have been no known cases of bird flu in Afghanistan. However, the global spread of the disease has prompted the FAO and the agricultural ministry, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to undertake efforts to increase awareness in the war-ravaged country.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), bird flu has claimed 68 lives in five countries in Asia since 2003: Vietnam (42); Thailand (13); Indonesia (7); Cambodia (4); and China (2). The avian virus remains hard for people to catch but the fear is that it could mutate into a form that could be passed easily from person to person, sparking a global pandemic in which millions could die.

“The FAO believes that eliminating avian influenza among poultry can delay H5N1 virus turning into a form that would create a human pandemic. In the war against avian flu, the world is vulnerable and Afghanistan is vulnerable,” Serge Verniau, FAO representative in Afghanistan said at the workshop.

The FAO is working closely with the WHO and the World Bank to promote a regional network for improving surveillance and diagnosis of the disease. It also hopes to encourage the exchange of information on the occurrence of the disease and on lessons learned.

Afghanistan has minimal health services and relies on the WHO and international health NGOs for diagnosis and treatment of diseases like bird flu.

“In the case of detecting any sign of bird flu in the country, we would send the samples to the WHO supported regional laboratory in Islamabad [capital of Pakistan],” Abdullah Fahim, a spokesman for the health ministry said.

Afghanistan has already banned duck hunting and the imports of live poultry to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.