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Avian Flu in AfricaLast updated June 2007 On the African continent, where HIV/AIDS has already taken millions of lives, the same social and economic conditions that underpin that pandemic now threaten to spread another: avian influenza. Africa Action urges the U.S. and the international community to make new commitments to developing health care systems in Africa and to support African efforts to respond to deadly public health crises, from the current HIV/AIDS pandemic to the emerging challenge of the avian flu. Avian flu surged to the forefront of the mainstream media in 2003, when outbreaks of the potent H5N1 strain began to have destructive effects on poultry in Southeast Asia. In late 2003, bird-to-human transmissions of avian flu highlighted the increasing danger posed by the disease, and there is now evidence of a handful of instances in which the rapidly evolving virus has developed the capacity to pass from human to human. Reported human-to-human contact has been so far minor and short-lived. Many researchers express grave concerns that, if this ability becomes stronger and more consistent, the world will face a major pandemic. Africa faces particular vulnerabilities, which make the continent more susceptible and less capable to respond to a major avian flu outbreak. These weaknesses include inadequate and overburdened health care systems and economic under-development. The capacity of African governments to respond to a major pandemic has also been compromised by years of struggling with the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In many areas of Africa, where frequent contact between humans and birds is common, families often own and rely heavily on small backyard poultry flocks. Furthermore, the migratory patterns of wild birds moving southward from Europe, as well as growing levels of international travel, carry the added danger of introducing and spreading the virus. These factors create ideal conditions for the silent and extensive spread of the virus. Health officials admit that it is hard to gauge the current extent of avian flu outbreaks in African countries. Many places lack the resources needed to consistently monitor the disease in birds. Poor communication between government officials, poultry farms, and the general population complicates efforts to spread information about prevention and surveillance tactics. To date in Africa, avian flu outbreaks have emerged in domestic birds in Nigeria, Egypt, Niger, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Sudan, the Ivory Coast and most recently Ghana. Influenza viruses have been found in wild waterfowl in Chad, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Senegal and Tunisia. The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed thirty-eight human cases of the avian flu H5N1 in Djibouti, Nigeria and Egypt, sixteen of which were fatal. According to a WHO report released in June 2007, Egypt now has the third largest number of human cases of avian influenza worldwide. There is a clear need for comprehensive and globally coordinated efforts to counter such major health threats and to invest in improving public health systems. The U.S. must recognize the moral and practical necessity of dedicating the required funding, resources, and expertise to address Africa’s particular health challenges. Additionally, the U.S. must increase its support for programs seeking to promote a comprehensive response to health crises and to strengthen health systems in developing countries, such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. The effects of inadequate access to education, economic resources, and health care have caused the devastating HIV/AIDS pandemic to overrun the African continent. These same inequities may now allow the avian flu virus, a potentially much faster killer, to spread unchecked through the continent and beyond its boundaries. Africa Action emphasizes that the international community cannot afford to disregard the lessons learned from HIV/AIDS or the ongoing devastation wrought by this current pandemic, even as it seeks to avoid a possible avian flu catastrophe. No longer can the U.S. and other nations pretend to ignore the vulnerabilities in African health systems and the health crises faced in Africa in favor of strictly national concerns. As the spread of HIV/AIDS has shown, the boundaries of national and global health concerns no longer exist. It is past time for the U.S. and other countries to show responsible global leadership in the face of such urgent public health threats, and they must seize this opportunity now or pay a high price in the future.
Resources on the Avian Flu
Latest news from World Health Organization
BBC In Depth Bird Flu
Agriculture Department: Animal Production and Health Division
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Voice of America: Avian Flu
African Union: Avian Flu: Possible outbreak, Economic importance and Emergency Preparedness Initiative in Africa
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