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Tanzania: Government Steps Up Alertness On Bird Flu
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The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
29 April 2008
Posted to the web 29 April 2008
Polycarp Machira
The government has stepped up efforts to prevent bird flu, but once again warned against illegal importation of poultry into the country.
Speaking at the launch of the National Plan to prevent avian influenza (bird flu) in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda said the disease was still under control.
But he also warned about the risk of the disease if people defy the ban on importing poultry products from neighbouring countries.
"Despite the ban on importing chicken from other countries, other people will continue doing so at the country's risk.
The government has declared prevention of bird flu a priority, and would do anything possible to prevent it," said the PM.
He also said a fully equipped laboratory to deal with bird flu had been constructed at Temeke, and that the US government had donated 4500 kits to be used by health workers in case the disease is reported in the country.
Tanzania receives about 33 million local, and 20 million hybrid breed chickens from other countries per year. The country also receives over 15 million eggs and more than 100 other breeds of birds from countries within and outside Africa.
Major imports are from neighbouring countries, but some are from as far as Asia and South America.
Bird flu was first reported in Africa between 2004 and 2005, and has since been confirmed in 11 countries in the continent. Migrating birds and poultry trade have been cited as main factors behind its spread.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the deadly disease, which was first recorded in Hong Kong in 1997, has been responsible for 166 human infections and millions of deaths in 66 countries globally since 2003.
In Africa, the disease has been reported in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d'voire, Djibouti, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Egypt, Sudan, and Togo.
East African countries are also at stake since the disease has also been reported in southern Sudan, closer to Uganda. So far authorities in the region believe that bird flu's human victims have acquired the disease from infected birds, rather than from human-to-human transmission.
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Inadequate surveillance and monitoring systems have been slowing Africa's efforts to prevent the spread of the disease.
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