Donors pledge fresh $476 mln to fight bird flu
The Star, 9 Dec 2006
BAMAKO (Reuters) - Foreign donors on Friday pledged a total of $475.9 million in additional funds to support the global fight against bird flu, officials said. 

The funds were pledged on the final day of a three-day summit in Mali, West Africa, aimed at coordinating strategies to combat the disease. 

Friday's donor conference, the fourth global bird flu summit since late last year, had officially aimed to secure $500-$750 million per year to fight the disease over the next two to three years, although some experts had hoped to raise even more.  

 

A veterinarian is shown taking a blood sample from a Magellan goose to test the effects of vaccination against bird flu at the Zurich zoo December 7, 2006. (REUTERS/Andreas Meier)

"We know there is more in the pipeline from countries that couldn't give commitments for various reasons. I am personally confident that we will make the $500 million," U.N. influenza coordinator David Nabarro told reporters. 

"Whichever way you look at it, it's a really excellent result," he added. 

World Bank and United Nations officials say the latest funds experts have sought from donors -- over and above some $1.9 billion pledged at a summit in Beijing in January -- is a fraction of the $2 trillion a possible human influenza pandemic could cost worldwide.