Shabait.com (Asmara)
5 March 2007
Asmara — A regional workshop on the coordinated fight against avian flu in Africa was conducted on March 2 at Hotel Intercontinental Asmara in which representatives of animal health protection from 40 African countries took part.
The participants held in-depth discussions on making due contribution to the on-going efforts to combat bird flu through mapping out coordinated plans and strategies, as well as the exchange of timely information among each country, and using the information for joint action.
They also adopted resolutions including intensive training for animal health professionals, fully equipping laboratories, specifying the role of partners and sponsors and the active participation of government and private institutions, as well as for member states to chart programs and actively cooperate with partners.
Speaking on the occasion, the Director of Animal Resource Department in the African Union, Dr. Traore, said that research work on domestic and wild animals at regional and international levels is relevant in order to combat bird flu which is posing a major challenge globally. He further called on member states to exchange up-to-date information so as to cope with it.
Reports indicated that bird flu was first detected in 2003 in Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia and then spread to the other parts of Asia, Europe and Africa, causing a major destruction in its wake.
So far, some 200 million birds and chickens have died and resulted in millions of dollars of economic loss, in addition to infecting 225 individuals globally in 2006.
It is to be noted that Eritrea has set up a committee that supervises the movement of birds as it lies in their route of migration.
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