Africa still at high risk of avian influenza pandemic

New Delhi/India, 6 December 2007. – “The crisis is not over! We need the world’s continued support for Africa”, concluded Dr Modibo Traore, director of the African Union’s Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU/IBAR), which is a major player in the continental level efforts to sustain the fight against the virus.

Speaking at the three-day International Ministerial Conference on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, Dr Traore emphasized that most African countries had done what had been asked of them initially. They had strengthened their HPAI surveillance capacities and drafted emergency preparedness plans. However, in disease-free countries, the main preventive measures taken were only partial – a circumstance which could result in a total ban of poultry product importation from infected countries, with devastating economic effects.

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) is zoonotic trans-boundary disease. Its occurrence in a country constitutes a major constraint to profitable livestock operations and poses a high public health risk at regional and global levels.

Since February 2006 HPAI has infected ten African countries, i.e. Nigeria, Egypt, Niger, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Sudan, Djibouti, Ghana and Togo. The rest of Africa remains at high risk due to the persistence of the virus in Egypt and Nigeria.

AU/IBAR, which has the continental mandate for the control of animal diseases together with other international institutions, including the ALive Platform partners, have coordinated and assisted the continent in managing the risks posed by HPAI, such as assessment of continental gaps and needs, preparation of national Emergency Plans (EP) and subsequent Action Plans.

The EP and Action Plans have not been entirely successful in managing the disease and lessons learnt from the HPAI crisis should therefore shape the way forward both in terms of sustainable immediate and longer term needs.

The conference reviewed the progress made and the impact of the disease. Many of the national plans lacked sufficient data, coherence and basis for implementation, since they were conceived as emergency action plans, so Dr Traore. In addition, few countries allocated the necessary financial resources for prevention activities. Finally, with the exception of Algeria, Guinea, Morocco, and Senegal, HPAI emergency preparedness plans had not been subjected to simulation exercises to identify their weaknesses. In this respect, most plans needed adjustments and updating.

Dr Traore: "Africa needs the continued support of the world to prepare for a possible pandemic. Unfortunately, it cannot lift this weight on its own."