South Asia to tackle bird flu

South Asian countries have decided to work together to fight trans-boundary animal diseases and develop an early warning system to tackle bird Flu.

Recent outbreaks of bird flu in West Bengal and Tripura have been blamed on Bangladesh, where the disease broke out earlier. After a two-day meeting here of chief veterinary officers from seven of the eight countries in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SARRC)), the participants decided Tuesday to share "timely information" and go for "progressive harmonisation of veterinary service" in the region. The chief veterinary officers of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India participated in the meeting.

"The meeting came out with a set of recommendations on timely information sharing, adopting security measures in animal production, regional surveillance as an early warning system, capacity building and progressive harmonisation of veterinary services for effective management of trans-boundary animal diseases (TADs)," an animal husbandry department communiqu‚ said.

The senior veterinary officers of these countries analysed the animal Health situation in the region with special focus on TADs like high pathogenic avian Influenza foot and mouth disease and pests des petit ruminants (PPR). Critical gaps in money, and manpower were identified.

In his valedictory address N. Ravi, secretary (east) of the Ministry of External Affairs, emphasised the need for regional cooperation in tackling livestock diseases "both for the benefit of the livestock farmers as well as to protect the human health against possibilities of pandemics in the region". The worst bird flu outbreak in India occurred early this year, in 13 of the 19 districts of West Bengal and also in several districts of Tripura.

Across the border, Bangladesh has also been battling bird flu for months and reported its first human case of avian influenza in May.

In order to achieve better regional cooperation, a road map was drawn up with special emphasis on "regional disease reporting mechanism, an early alert system, building up a network of quality diagnostic laboratories as well as harmonisation of veterinary services" through performance evaluation and continuous education, the communique said.

IANS