Official Bank Sites Related Information March 31, 2006—More than 20 countries are expected to receive assistance this year under the World Bank’s global program for avian flu. The funding program, approved by the Bank’s Board of Directors earlier this year, allows for up to US$500 million to help countries deal with avian flu in animals while at the same time, preparing for a possible human pandemic. In the latest moves, the Bank’s Board has given the go-ahead for a US$50 million project to help Nigeria minimize the threat posed by avian flu to humans and the poultry industry. The money, which will come in the form of a credit from the Bank's concessional lending arm, the International Development Association (IDA) will also be used to help Nigeria prepare the necessary control measures to respond to a possible influenza pandemic. The project for Nigeria falls under the Bank's Global Program for Avian Influenza (GPAI), designed to provide emergency financing to countries to contain outbreaks of avian flu through early detection and rapid response measures. The Bank's Board has also agreed to make available US$5.1 million to help finance avian flu prevention, preparedness, and response activities in Azerbaijan. The funds are being made available via restructuring of a Second Institution Building Technical Assistance Project (IBTA-2) to support Azerbaijan’s response to the avian flu emergency. Donna Dowsett-Coirolo, the Bank's Country Director for the South Caucasus, says the Bank "processed this restructuring of the IBTA-2 project in record time to help the National Avian Flu Commission implement its plan to address the bird flu threat." The commission's plan is intended to dminish the burden of disease and loss of productivity caused by avian flu, to limit the regional spread of the disease within Azerbaijan and to enhance economic and social safety at the national, regional and global levels. The Bank has also been approached by the Palestinian Authority with an urgent request for assistance, following an outbreak of avian flu in West Bank and Gaza. 
US$500 million to help countries deal with avian flu The H5N1 virus was found in two areas of the Gaza Strip last week and had earlier been detected in Israel and since then in the Jordan Valley. To date, there have been no cases of bird-to-human transmission. The Bank is now preparing an intervention, subject to the approval of the Bank’s Board of Directors. The money will be used for activities in line with the Bank’s Global Program for Avian Influenza. Also, the Bank’s Board of Directors has already given the go ahead to a project for the Kyrgyz Republic. In Europe and Central Asia, the Bank is also currently preparing operations to assist Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Tajikistan and Turkey. In the ECA region, the needs vary from one country in the region to another, depending on the size of the population, the extent of the poultry sector, and the initial conditions of the health and veterinary systems. In every case, however, operations focus on animal and human health, public awareness and information, monitoring and evaluation and emergency imports. In South Asia, the bank is looking to assist Nepal with a possible project worth about US$15 million. In East Asia – a region where the H5N1 strain is already endemic in several countries, governments are emphasizing control, preparedness as well as prevention, to address the spread among animals, and a growing number of cases in people. As a result, more and more countries are now developing integrated plans for animal and human health, which in order to get donor funding, must conform to technical guidelines set by both WHO and the FAO expressly to control avian flu. Donor funding for use in developing countries was given a significant boost by the Beijing donors meeting in mid-January which raised as much as US$1.9 billion dollars for a war-chest to fight avian-flu. Bank teams have been working with health and agricultural officials as well as other ministries, donors and agencies to discuss the best ways to jointly support the country plans. In Vietnam, the Bank already has a program underway. The Bank is also working on plans to assist Lao PDR, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Indonesia. |
RSS