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$2 billion Pledged at International Donor's Conference
on Bird Flu
January 18, 2006 – Today in Beijing the first ever international donors’
conference on funding global preparedness for the spread of avian flu concluded
with over $2 billion pledged, far exceeding organizers’ expectations. Jointly
hosted by the World Bank, the European Union and China, the International
Pledging Conference on Avian and Human Pandemic Influenza saw representatives of
over 100 countries and international organizations express the immediacy of the
need for a well-funded, coordinated global response to a disease that respects
no national borders.
While H5N1 has not yet developed ability to spread widely among humans – as some
doubt it ever will – this poultry-borne flu has killed over 75 people and is
currently wreaking havoc on individuals, businesses, and economies from
Indonesia to Turkey with the largest impact seen on the rural poor who depend on
poultry for their livelihoods. This is but the beginning of the effects expected
from the disease’s spread; the World Bank estimates that a flu pandemic could
yield up to $800 billion a year in economic losses alone. Experts emphasize that
it is far cheaper and will cost many fewer lives if we fight to prevent the
pandemic today – an effort the WHO expects to take $1.5 billion over the next
three years.
"We're talking about a tremendous amount of money here for an issue that is
clearly of global importance. The stakes are very high," James LeDuc, a viral
illness expert at the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said.
"Whether it's SARS, monkey pox or avian influenza, the capacity that we're
building is going to be very important for global health."
In response to this global call for funds, wealthy countries and international
funding organizations alike have stepped up to the plate. Among the funds
promised were $159 million from Japan, $10 million from host country China, and
$120 million from the European Union - $20 million more than previously
announced. European Union member states are expected to pledge an additional
$120 million and many other countries are helping as well.
True to the Bush Administration’s continued leadership role on the issue, the
United States promised $334 million, the largest single pledge, and indicated
that additional billions will be invested specifically to develop a human
vaccine for the disease. Yet Congress still needs to approve much of this
funding, a battle hard fought in the House where conservatives insist that any
new spending must be offset by cutting old spending elsewhere.
The World Bank used this conference to announce the first loan given from a new
$500 million global credit facility approved by its Board only a week earlier.
The Kyrgyz Republic, a country declared at high risk for bird flu, received $5
million from the Bank to both prepare and prevent the disease. Other countries
in the region are currently in discussion with the Bank about similar aid
packages, pushing grants rather than loans to poor countries concerned with
adding to their indebtedness. No country has yet to tap the $300 million in
loans the Asian Development Bank has made available for fighting bird flu.
The Swiss drug manufacturer Roche announced a donation of 2 million doses of
Tamiflu for a global stockpile coordinated by the World Health Organization.
Last year Roche gave 3 million doses to the same fund to aid poor countries
fighting the disease. Tamilflu is currently one of the only drugs available that
may prove effective in mitigating the effects of bird flu in humans. Over a year
ago, the World Health Organization advised countries to prepare national Tamiflu
stockpiles in case of an outbreak.
Officials from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
warned conferees that it is trade and travelers, not migratory birds, that pose
the greatest threat of spreading the disease, especially west of Turkey.
Therefore, FAO encouraged countries to implement more stringent screening
precautions, citing the almost 10 tons of illicit food caught in Frankfurt
airport alone over the last four months. Global public events such as the winter
Olympic games in Turin, Italy, in February and the World Cup soccer
championships this summer in Germany drastically increase the chances that the
infection will travel with the fans to these locations.
Cautionary tales are beginning to arise, however, that such quickly increased
funding for bird flu is coming at the expense of broader global health measures.
Donors must commit to building out global health capacity in the long-term, not
simply redistributing funds from fighting one set of diseases to another.
Updated January 18, 2006
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