Over US$1.8 billion of donations were collected for reinforcing
global efforts in bird flu prevention and control on Wednesday at
the International Pledging Conference on Avian and Human Pandemic
Influenza.
"This conference has been very successful," the European Union
(EU) commissioner for health and consumer protection Markos
Kyprianou said.
"Originally, we have estimated the financial need to cover the
financial gap was around US$1.2 billion. We went beyond that
amount," he told press after the meeting.
Sources with China's Ministry of Foreign
Affairs said the pledged donations include US$121.6
million from the the European Commission, US$134.9 million from the
EU, US$468 billion from the Asian Development Bank, US$334 millions
from the United States and US$155 million from Japan.
Australia, France, Germany, Canada and Britain also pledged
their donations, the ministry said.
Kyprianou said nearly US$1 billion had been pledged in grants,
which would go mainly to developing countries "that are in most
need."
The remaining donations would come in loans, he said.
To ensure the fund to be used effectively and productively, the
conference adopted a multidonor financing framework report on avian
and human influenza.
The framework outlines a financing framework that is linked to a
set of currently identified priority funding needs.
"There are a number of important priorities for grant funding:
for the infected or high-risk countries, notably Cambodia, China,
Indonesia, the Laos, Mongolia and Vietnam; and for integrated core
programs in Africa," the framework report says.
The report said the financing framework is designed to be
flexible. "Given the nature of the disease, these funding needs can
change rapidly, notably if new outbreaks of the animal disease are
not addressed in a timely fashion."
Meanwhile, participants of the donors' conference also passed a
Beijing Declaration, committing themselves to ensuring effective
development and implementation of integrated national action plans
guided by political leaders at the highest level and mobilizing all
sorts of resources in their own countries to join the global fight
against bird flu.
They also pledged to subscribe to a long-term strategic
partnership between the international community and the countries
currently affected or at risk in which adequate and prompt
financial and technical support is mobilized to support those
countries.
The declaration says the countries are committed to sharing
information and relevant biological materials related to avian
influenza and developing capacity and infrastructure in animal and
public health sectors.
"We've got an excellent declaration," UN's coordinator on avian
and human influenza David Nabarro said, adding that the commitments
were made "not only in terms of cash, but also in terms of
partnership, in terms of openness on information, in terms of
cooperation on research, in terms of evaluating results and
impact."
The conference was held under the co-sponsorship of the Chinese
government, the European Commission and the World Bank. Nearly 700
representatives from over 100 countries and 20 international
institutions attended the conference.
Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao delivered a speech at the conference, announcing that
the Chinese government would donate US$10 million to the global
combat against avian influenza.
He also promised that China will continue to offer assistance
within its capacity to its neighboring countries through bilateral
channels.
Avian influenza has now spread from Asia to the Middle East and
Europe with the prospect that the disease might also spread to
Latin America, Africa and elsewhere.
So for nearly 80 people were reported dead from the disease and
over 150 were found infected. Experts worried that if not detected,
reported promptly and contained effectively, a pandemic could
potentially kill millions and cause catastrophic consequences in
the areas of global economic growth, trade and security.
(Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2006)