Enhancing Control of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza through Compensation.
The culling of infected or exposed animals is the most efficient means available in controlling the spread of avian flu in areas where it is not endemic. The method is particularly effective in reducing the overall viral load within the animal vector, and in so doing reducing the probability that the virus will mutate.
Promptly reimbursing owners whose property is destroyed by this disease control measure is the most effective way to compensate private citizens for protecting the critical public good of controlling a highly pathogenic disease. Compensation also serves to protect very poor owners from the severe distress that culling places on their livelihoods.
Of the resources made available for controlling highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in the animal vector by the World Bank and other donors by the beginning of 2007 (funding from national sources not included), about one-third goes to such compensation programs. The effectiveness of these resources in containing highly pathogenic avian influenza is contingent on
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identifying the right beneficiaries and the types of losses to be covered,
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setting appropriate compensation rates and payment systems, and
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establishing awareness among these beneficiaries as to how the compensation program operates.
Responding to a request made at the June 2006 International Conference on Avian Influenza in Vienna, the World Bank Agriculture Rural Development Department, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Food Policy Research Institute, and the World Organization for Animal Health undertook a collaborative study to review experience, identify best practices, and prescribe guidelines to enable compensation programs to effectively link compensation payments to success or failure on the ground. The study, Enhancing Control of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Developing Countries through Compensation is presented here. The executive summary is available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Spanish and Russian.
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