Bangladesh to seek donors' help to fight avian flu

Bangladeshi government will seek assistance from donor agencies to implement a project aimed at preventing the outbreak of bird flu in the country, official sources said.

The proposal seeking assistance will be submitted to the World Bank (WB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), Mohammad Abdul Karim, Secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock was quoted by The Daily Star as saying on Sunday.

"We will request our development partners to contribute to various components of the proposed project," he was quoted as saying.

On the amount of the expected assistance, he said this will be determined after finalizing the proposal, now being prepared by the ministry.

He said the donors' assistance will be sought to finance various components, such as vaccination, decontamination, training of workers and officials, and laboratory and testing facilities.

Karim said a task force, including representatives from the ministries of health, environment, education and information and the stakeholders of the poultry industry, has already started working to ensure bio-safety in the poultry farms.

The task force will work mainly to create awareness among the people about the disease so that they keep themselves from making contact with migratory birds, he said.

The Food and Agricultural Organization earlier said Bangladesh, being the host of migratory bird, has the potential risk of being affected by the bird flu virus. The virus has already spread across Europe and many Asian countries.

Bangladeshi government has decided to ban import of chicks from four European countries -- Turkey, Greece, Romania and Russia -- where bird flu has broken out recently.

Source: Xinhua