29 February 2004	Sunday	08 Muharram 1425

BANGKOK, Feb 28: The birdflu crisis engulfing Asia will cost the region at least half-a-billion dollars and the bulk of that will be borne by individual countries , experts at a UN-backed conference said on Saturday.

"It will take 500 million dollars at least for emergency and long-term work," World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) chief Bernard Vallat said at the end of the three-day talks.

Mr Vallat said the most expensive factor was a massive cull that has so far resulted in the slaughter of 100 million poultry to prevent the spread of the disease that has hit 10 Asian nations and parts of the United States and Canada.

As well as the huge culling exercise and compensating farmers, there would also be significant costs involved in upgrading bio-security standards on farms and introducing better surveillance mechanisms, he told a press conference.

He said poultry sectors shattered by the deadly disease would need to be re-stocked and rehabilitated, and initiatives like installing nets around farms to prevent chickens from having contact with wild birds would be considered.

Experts believe that birdflu, which has killed 22 people in Vietnam and Thailand, could have been spread around Asia by migratory birds.

Despite hopes that donor nations and agencies attending the Bangkok talks would put forward significant funding, Mr Vallat said that so far the money made available only totalled around 10 million dollars.

"The World Bank will make available several millions of dollars" for a programme in Vietnam, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) animal health expert Joseph Domenech said, adding that a team from the bank was currently in the field in Vietnam finalizing details of the project.

The UN agriculture agency's director of animal production and health, Samuel Jutzi, said the meeting recommended setting up a regional birdflu co-ordination group.

"The regional co-ordination group should be formed by the WHO (World Health organisation), the FAO, the OIE and governments," he said, adding that each country should also have their own multi-agency task force.

During the talks, the experts from 23 countries and agencies addressed issues including veterinary services, surveillance and biosecurity measures, carcass disposal, vaccination, the economic effects of bird flu and rehabilitation.

Mr Vallat, whose Paris-based institution is the world's top veterinary health watchdog, has described the birdflu outbreak as an "unprecedented threat".

"Never in the past have we witnessed an avian virus circulating so quickly in such a large part of the world," he said when the talks opened.

The meeting stressed that despite the regional cull and quarantine restrictions slapped on infected zones, the outbreak was not under control.

"The achievements to date have been significant. There is evidence that in some countries the massive control efforts undertaken have reduced the overall level of disease," Mr Jutzi told the press conference,

"In some countries, however, the situation is not clear," he added. "Implementation of (control) measures should be broadened and strengthened and tailored to individual countries' situations."

Among other recommendations were the establishment of birdflu-free zones in affected countries with the aim of recovering exports, improved scientific research and targeted poultry vaccination.

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has hit Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos and South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.

Taiwan and Pakistan, as well as parts of the United States and Canada, have reported weaker strains of the disease.-AFP