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World 'not ready for bird flu'
18/01/2006 08:02 - (SA)
Beijing - United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan warned on Wednesday that the world was not yet ready to combat the bird flu pandemic, as he called for a "tremendous effort" in stepping up preparations.
Annan said: "There's no time to waste. Let's ensure we're ready. We are not yet there. To be truly prepared we would need to mount a tremendous effort."
The two-day International Pledging Conference on avian and human influenza, which wrapped up on Wednesday, was aiming to secure $1.5bn in funding to implement a three-year plan to fight bird flu.
Annan said the funding being sought would help save much greater costs if the bird flu crisis, which had already killed about 80 people since 2003, escalated into the much feared global pandemic.
Governments, bureaucracies
He said: "Our effort requires resources. The amount asked for is small compared to the costs."
Annan also emphasised the need for governments and bureaucracies around the world to cut down on red tape and unite to share technical expertise.
He further said he had asked all parts of the UN system to have contingency plans in place in case of a pandemic, and advised all countries to do the same.
Most of the bird flu deaths that had occurred since 2003 had been in Southeast Asia and China.
However, the virus had spread through the Middle East and into Europe for the past year, killing four teenagers in Turkey this month.
Scientists feared that the more the virus spreads, the greater the chance H5N1 would mutate into a form that was easily transmissible between humans. This could spark a global pandemic that could claim millions of lives.
- AFP
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