FAO leads international effort to solve bird flu problem

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) director-general Jacques Diouf is urging the international community to help affected countries cope with the economic devastation caused by the avian flu pandemic.

"This is a costly disease that could even be bigger than the mad cow disease that hit the United Kingdom in recent years. We want to be sure that there is international solidarity to ensure proper control of the disease," Diouf said.

Diouf was in Manila over the weekend where he conferred the Ceres Award to President Arroyo. The award is given annually by the FAO to women who played critical roles in agricultural programs for attaining food security.

The FAO chief said that the international agency recently organized a meeting among major donors to encourage them to provide assistance to countries that were hit by the bird flu virus.

In Asia, 10 countries are infected with the H5N1 virus, including Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos, Pakistan, Taiwan, China.

The Philippines is one of few countries in Southeast Asia that has so far managed to prevent the entry of the bird flu on its borders.

The disease has also struck specific spots in Delaware in the United States and British Columbia in Canada.

Diouf said FAO has already committed $5.5 million to help agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International des Epizooties (OIE) harmonize efforts to contain the deadly virus.

FAO has called on the OIE and the WHO to come up with more effective measures to control the further spread of the epidemic that has already claimed more than 20 human lives in Asia, and which already killed a leopard, tiger and two cats in Thailand.

"We are urging experts to analyze the phenomena further and look at the best methods to deal with the disease aside from culling," Diouf said.

Earlier this month, global and animal health experts met for emergency talks at the UN-FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.