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Bird flu warning-system plans
20/11/2005 16:00 - (SA)
Johannesburg - The United Nations is to lead environmental organisations in developing a bird flu early warning system to alert continental authorities to the influx of migratory water birds.
"Armed with such information, local health and environment bodies on continents like Africa, Asia and in Latin America will be better able to prioritise their planning and response," the UN said in Nairobi on Sunday.
"Special maps are to be developed for individual countries pin-pointing the precise locations such as lakes, marshes and other wetland areas where the birds are likely to go."
This information was presently held by a variety of groups, said UN environmental programme executive director Klaus Toepfer.
Other advice could include recommendations that farmers move poultry away from key wetlands to minimise cross-transmission with migratory birds, and suggestions on hygiene for hunters handling harvested birds.
"The exact workings of the system have yet to be ironed out," the UN said.
However, it was to be effective, it would have to include observations throughout the world on migrations and relay this information to the countries likely to receive the water-bird populations, it added.
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