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KUALA LUMPUR : Southeast Asian officials said Thursday they were finalising an ambitious three-year strategy to combat bird flu before a donors' meeting to appeal for up to US$150 million to fund the programme.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bird flu task force wraps up its talks on Friday before a January 17-18 donor meeting in Beijing.
Aziz Mangkat, director-general of Malaysia's Department of Veterinary Services, said the action plan was aimed at controlling and eradicating the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza virus in the region.
"It is also to ensure that ASEAN countries are well prepared if there is a breakout in any member countries," he said.
Aziz, who chaired the meeting, said he hoped foreign donors and
institutions would come forward to provide financial assistance to carry out the proposed projects in ASEAN countries.
"This is a regional approach. We have identified nine strategic areas and 15 projects which could be implemented over a three-year period starting this year," he said. "We need to implement the measures urgently."
"The international community should also share the responsibility to eradicate the disease," he said, adding that many regional nations were too poor to foot the bill themselves.
Aziz said that at this week's talks the task force was establishing how much it would cost to implement the plan.
He declined to give an expected cost, but an official from one of the ASEAN country delegations said that "some US$150 million may be required to carry out the projects".
The areas the task force has identified include disease surveillance, implementation of disease control measures, eradication policies, emergency response and public awareness campaigns, he said.
Aziz said the programme would give Southeast Asia a "harmonised and standardised" approach to fight the disease, which has killed more than 70 people in East Asia since 2003 and triggered fears of a global pandemic.
He said the proposed plan would fight the bird flu threat at its source - the insanitary system of raising and slaughtering animals in Asia.
"The threat to the whole region is still there," he said.
Gary Greene, the Beijing-based director of the US Department of Agriculture's regional Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, praised Southeast Asia for forging the eradication plan.
He said the Beijing meeting would be attended by potential donors from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), the United States, the European Union and Japan.
Representatives from eight ASEAN nations attended the three-day talks, along with officials from the ADB, World Organisation for Animal Health and the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation. - AFP/ch
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