U.N. urges aid to fight bird-flu threat

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- U.N. officials said Thursday that global aid is urgently needed to help countries with bird-flu cases share data to respond to the growing threat.

"We are very anxious," Jacques Diouf, director general of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, said at a news conference Thursday.

Diouf noted that more than two years have passed since the first cases of avian flu, known as H5N1, were identified in Asian poultry, and his agency now finds itself strapped for cash.

Diouf said the FAO is seeking a total of $175 million from the international community to combat bird flu, but only $25 million has been promised so far. Countries pledging money include the United States -- which has offered $6 million -- Germany, Sweden and Holland, he added.

In fact, the recent bird-flu cases found in Russia and Kazakhstan forced the FAO to dip into its own coffers, earmarking $2 million for aid to those countries.

"We're not a financing agency, but we had to take action," Diouf said, adding that the FAO gave $5.5 million last year to the affected Asian countries, including Thailand, Vietnam and Korea.

He said the organization's top priority now is to build regional networks in affected countries so government officials can share the latest bird-flu information to identify the virus more quickly and track its patterns.

The next most critical issue is to train veterinarians in each affected country, he added.

That might include changing farming practices to decrease the spread of the virus from birds to farm workers, where most human cases have occurred, Diouf said, noting the health problem took on a new urgency when Russia and Kazakhstan joined the list of affected countries. These cases showed the bird-flu threat is not only limited to infected birds on poultry farms, but also can be spread via migratory birds.