Barbara Among
29 June 2008
Kampala — THE World Bank has given Uganda $10m (about sh17b) to finance a four-year project aimed at preventing bird flu (avian and human influenza).
The money will be used to support efforts aimed at reducing the threat the disease poses to people and poultry and other diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans.
"While an Avian and Human Influenza outbreak has not yet occurred in Uganda, there is no doubt that the negative socio-economic impact of an outbreak would be enormous and devastating," said Kundhavi Kadiresan, the World Bank Uganda country manager. In 2006, Uganda set up a laboratory to detect the disease.
Health state Minister Emmanuel Otaala said the laboratory would be upgraded so that it could be in position to detect any strain of the virus.
The viral disease mainly affects the nose, throat, bronchi and lungs.
The infection, which is characterised by a sudden onset of high fever, aching muscles, headache, non-productive cough, sore throat and rhinitis, usually lasts about a week.
The virus is transmitted from person to person via droplets and small particles produced when infected people cough or sneeze.
Uganda is among the countries the sub-Saharan African facing a high risk of being hit by bird flu because the county is crisscrossed by several routes for migratory birds, the carriers for the virus.
Uganda is also engaged in a thriving but poorly regulated cross-border poultry trade with neighboring countries, which could easily result into the importation of the diseases.
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