• by Lynette Lee Corporal (bangkok)
• Thursday, April 01, 2010
• Inter Press Service

Government and international non-government organisations need to put as much effort in fighting the spread of complacency in the battle against the H5N1 virus as they do in curbing avian flu itself, experts say.

'If you reduce vigilance, then the problem will come back,' says David Nabarro, U.N. assistant secretary general and senior U.N. system coordinator for avian and human influenza, at a press briefing here Thursday.

He was speaking ahead of the International Ministerial Conference on Animal and Pandemic Influenza: The Way Forward, to be held on Apr. 19 to 21 in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi. The seventh in a series of meetings since 2004, it will bring together agriculture or livestock and health ministers from all over the world, among others.

Seven years after the first H5N1 cases were reported in South-east Asia, Nabarro says that governments have been moving in the right direction in fighting the threat of a pandemic.

'But we're also pleading with governments not to reduce the alerts and preparedness programmes,' he said, as the initial wide coverage in media, some of which bordered on panic and sensationalism, has also eased up.

Popularly known as avian influenza, the H5N1 virus is a subtype of the influenza A virus, which can cause illness in humans and other animal species.

Since 2003 when the first avian flu case was reported in South-east Asia, about 150 million poultry have either died or been slaughtered as part of safety measures.

There have also been cases of humans getting avian flu from sick poultry. As of Dec. 31, 2009, there were 467 confirmed human cases of H5N1 worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Criticised by some as being alarmist for predicting that an H5N1 pandemic could kill millions of people, Nabarro expressed concern about the dwindling coverage of the media about the virus. 'We had 700 journalists that covered our meetings in Geneva about H5N1 five years ago because the world was quite worried about how the virus was causing havoc,' he pointed out.

Despite the decrease in coverage by and interest of the media, Nabarro reiterates that 'a great deal of effort is still being put by governments and international non-government organisations' in response to a pandemic threat.

According to Vietnam's deputy director in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Pham Ngoc Mau, the government is doing its best in containing avian flu in the country. 'We acknowledge that Vietnam cannot do it alone and we need to cooperate with the International community,' said Mau.

As of March, Vietnam has had 59 H5N1-related deaths since 2003, second to Indonesia, which has had 135 deaths.

Due to the virus’ adverse impact on Vietnam — where eight of the 11 million households engaged in poultry businesses were badly hit by the H5N1 problem — the government issued a 'Green Book' that contains action plans to deal with avian flu.

Among its measures are free poultry vaccination programmes, especially in affected poor communities, and the provision of capital so that households can restart their businesses, says Pham Thi Hanh, another deputy director at the Vietnam’s agriculture ministry.

'We are now in the midst of preparing the 2010-2015 action plan and we are quite optimistic that we will meet our goals,' said Hanh.

Admitting that poultry smuggling continues along Vietnam's borders with China, Cambodia and Laos, she says officials are working closely with police authorities to ensure that this would be better controlled.

Looking ahead to the Vietnam conference, Nabarro said he expects it to look back and see where governments, health and development experts might have been amiss in the past years.

'There are three things we need to put more effort on. One is to make sure the biosecurity measures are firmly in place, which reduces the risk of infection among poultry. We also need to have more efficient veterinary services,' he told IPS.

But apart from these health and scientific measures, he adds, as much attention needs to be given to improving risk communication.

This involves campaigns to let people know how to reduce avian flu risks in poultry, including keeping different animal species in different enclosures or areas. It also includes reminding people how to avoid getting avian flu themselves --by cleaning one’s hands and knowing the risks of close contact with birds -- and what to do if they think they might have it.

'This is to enable people to better understand the risks associated with the virus and respond properly to that,' Nabarro added.

Although Asia’s high concentration of poultry — some countries have more small poultry farms in backyards while others like Thailand have huge commercial operations -- makes it more vulnerable to H5N1, Nabarro says it has responded well to the threat.

Still, he cautions that it is better to be safe than sorry. 'We shouldn’t let our guard down. We don’t want that rebound to occur to avian influenza and to slacken on pandemic preparedness,' he said.

© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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