Contacts: In Ankara¾Tunya Celasin, (90-312) 459 83 43 Tcelasin@worldbank.org In Washington: Miriam Van Dyck: (202) 458 2931 Mvandyck@worldbank.org Ankara, April 24, 2006– The World Bank today approved a EURO 27.3 Million (US$ 34.40 million) Avian Influenza and Human Pandemic Preparedness and Response Project Loan (AIHP) for Turkey. The overall objective of the Project is to minimize the threat in Turkey posed to humans by highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) infection and other zoonoses in domestic poultry and to prepare for the control and response to an influenza pandemic and other infectious disease emergencies in humans. To achieve this, three areas will be supported: (i) prevention, (ii) preparedness and planning and, (iii) response and containment. Achieving these goals will contribute to diminishing the burden of disease and loss of productivity in Turkey, limiting the regional spread of HPAI, and enhancing economic and social prospects at the national, regional and global levels. The project will finance activities under three components: (a) Animal health: This component targets the prevention, control and eradication of HPAI through strategy development and epidemiological studies and surveillance programs to inform the improvement of disease control measures; strengthening the detection capacity of reference and regional diagnostic laboratories to follow-up reported AI cases; support to activities related to the implementation of the containment plan for AI outbreaks; and restructuring of the poultry sector. (b) Human health: This component targets the reduction of the impact of a pandemic influenza virus through year-round surveillance; effective and accurate methods of diagnosis; social distance interventions and strengthened medical services. The Project will help the Ministry of Health (MOH) to build its institutional capacity to implement the recently prepared national pandemic influenza action plan in coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA). (c) Public awareness and coordination support: This component supports information and communication activities to increase the attention and commitment of government, the private sector and civil society organizations and to raise awareness, knowledge and understanding among the general population about the risk and potential impact of the pandemic. It will also support the National Zoonotic Disease Committee in its role of triggering emergency responses by the MOH and MARA, monitoring the actions taken by them, coordinating public statements to the media, and executing project evaluation activities. On the occasion of the Board Approval of the Project, Andrew Vorkink, Country Director for Turkey stated: “The continuing outbreaks of HPAI influenza which began in late 2003 in several Southeast Asian Countries and the ones that have occurred more recently in Central Asia, Europe and Middle East have been disastrous to the poultry industry and have raised serious global public health concerns. If a major pandemic is to appear due to this influenza, air travel might hasten the spread of a new virus and decrease the time available for preparing interventions. Countries’ health care systems could be rapidly overwhelmed, economies strained and social order disrupted.” He continued: “With interventions proposed in this project and in collaboration with other national and international partners, it should be possible to minimize a pandemic’s consequences in Turkey through advance preparation to meet the challenge. The World Bank is happy to help Turkey in this project, which will also give assurances to visitors and tourists to Turkey that Turkey has a comprehensive plan to help stop the spread of future bird flu outbreaks”. The lending instrument for the Avian Influenza and Human Pandemic Preparedness and Response Project is the World Bank’s Emergency Recovery Loan (ERL) with a 15-year maturity, a 5-year grace period, and a variable spread.
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