Culling Compensation for Avian Flu

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) under current conditions poses a major risk to human and animal health. Efforts to contain the disease are therefore in national and global interest. As the most widely practiced control methods for poultry involve culling birds that are infected or in regions immediately around infected animals, the most common practice to ensure the cooperation of owners of birds is to compensate them for the culling of their animals to achieve this public goal. Early identification of HPAI and the immediate culling of diseased or suspected animals are critical elements of reducing the risk of the disease spreading. The international community and national governments have responded to this challenge by establishing funding mechanisms to enable compensation to assist in this strategy.

The international community and national governments met in Bamako, Mali in December 2006 at the  4th International Conference on Avian and Human Pandemic Influenza. The Conference program aimed to:

• provide new insights into Avian Influenza disease development around the world and review progress recorded after the Beijing and Vienna Conferences
• provide the latest information on strategies and forms of compensation, vaccination, with reference to the major technical meetings' recommendations
• foster integrated national strategies coordinated at regional and global levels

Download a copy of the report, "Enhancing Control of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Developing Countries Through Compensation: Issues and Good Practice",prepared for this conference by the World Bank, FAO, IFPRI, and OIE.

View the Executive Summary (English, French, Russian, Spanish).

View the  Full text.

View the presentation from the 4th International Conference on Avian Influenza in Bamako (English,   Russian)

For more information, please visit www.worldbank.org/avianflu.