Menase Kifle
9 March 2008
Addis Ababa — The African Union ( AU) and European Union on Thursday pledged an amount of 600,000 USD to help Ethiopia's endeavor in the prevention of the spread of Avian and Human Influenza (AHI).
The donation follows a partnership agreement signed on 30 April 2007 between AU/IBAR and the European commission to the amount of 21.5 million euro for the implementation of the Support Program to Integrated National Action Plans (SPINAP) for avian and human influenza in 47 African countries.
The agreement concerns the implementation of the Support Program to Integrated National Action Plans for Avian and Human Influenza (SPINAP-AHI) which is specifically geared towards addressing the prevention and control of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in both animals and humans.
The donation was made official at a three-day SPINAP inception workshop for Eastern Africa held at the AU Head Quarters in Addis Ababa.
Speaking on the occasion, Director for the Department of the Rural Economy and Agriculture of the AU, Dr Ahmadu Babagana pointed out that Avian influenza was a huge threat to the continent, to million of lives directly and indirectly including to economies and societal structures.
"This program provides us with a brilliant opportunity to grow together more as a continent, to show the world what we as Africa can establish as a group and last but not least do also what is expected of us as part of globalised world - to play our part in the global fight against avian influenza." SPINAP's overall objective is to contribute to the reduction of the socioeconomic impact of Avian and Human Influenza (AHI) and the potential loss of human life by assisting ACP countries in Africa with the preparation against and control of AHI in animals as well as preparing for a possible human influenza pandemic.
Avian influenza (AI) - also called bird flu - is a trans boundary zoonotic disease.
AI first emerged in Asia in 2003 and was reported 2005 in Europe and 2006 in Africa.
In West Africa Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Togo and Benin as well as Egypt, Djibouti and Sudan on the Eastern side of the continent have reported infections. As predicted, the risk of the disease to become endemic in poultry seems a reality in Nigeria and Egypt.
Until today AI remains an animal disease. There has been no confirmed human to human transmission. However, as of December 2007, there were 43 human cases on the continent, 20 of them fatal.
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