UN Expert On Avian Flu To Visit Five Countries
By D. Arul Rajoo
Bernama, 5 Apr 2006

BANGKOK, April 5 (Bernama) -- A senior United Nations (UN) system coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza will visit five countries in the region to discuss each government's approach to the disease and the international coordination of influenza action and external assistance.

Dr David Nabarro will travel to China, Laos, Viet Nam, Thailand and Indonesia.

The UN said here Wednesday that Dr Nabarro would meet with the resident coordinator and UN country team working in each country on Avian and Human Influenza and on the preparedness of a potential influenza pandemic.

The Asian region has been hardest hit by Avian and Human Influenza, or bird flu, and World Health Organisation (WHO) figures show that cases have increased steadily since 2003.

According to the figures, from 2003 to April 3 this year, there had been 190 confirmed reported cases, with 107 deaths in nine countries, said the UN.

Vietnam had the highest number of Avian and Human Influenza cases at 93, followed by Indonesia (29), then Thailand (22).

Vietnam and Thailand had managed to keep their fatalities to about half their respective total number of cases, it said.

Since December 2003, the H5N1 virus, which experts fear could mutate into a potentially devastating and lethal human pandemic, had killed 105 people while nearly 200 million domestic poultry had died or been culled to contain the spread.

Last week, Nabarro said that some countries worried that sharing information about bird flu would affect their economies, poultry industry and tourism business.

"It's a very tricky issue. But transparency is still the long-term solution for those concerns," he had said.-- BERNAMA