http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/ful...eDate=20061224
<TABLE class=txt cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="95%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=news>Renu Kshetry</TD></TR><TR><TD class=news>Kathmandu, December 24
The World Bank has agreed to provide $18.2 million grant to Nepal for avian flu control project for the next four years.
"The programme will be launched in January but the agreement will be signed in February," Dr Manas Banerjee, acting director of the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD) said on Saturday.
The representatives of the World Bank, under-secretary at the Ministry of Finance Madhav Ghimire, EDCD director and the director of the Livestock Department held a meeting in New Delhi for four days from December 19 in this regard.
"Though no avian flu case has been reported in Nepal as of now, it is better to take precautions," said Dr Banerjee.
"The fund will be utilised in implementing the 'National Avian Influenza and Pandemic Preparedness and Response' (NAIPPR) programme prepared by the government," said Dr Banerjee. NAIPPR focuses on planning and coordination, surveillance of human influenza, prevention and containment of avian influenza, health systems preparedness and response, communication and the Ministry of Health's laboratory capacity development.
The Health Ministry, Ministry of Local Development, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives will jointly support the programme.
The 'International Pledging Conference on Avian and Human Pandemic Influenza' held in China last year had listed Nepal as one of the high-risk countries, as bird flu was already reported in China while India, too, was listed on the high-risk countries' category. Nepal too has a high risk of avian flu, as migratory birds arrive in Nepal from Russia and China.
The WB has already committed to providing $500 million for avian flu control globally. The government had formed a task force to check avian flu in Nepal immediately after the flu was detected in Vietnam in 2003.
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<TABLE class=txt cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="95%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=news>Renu Kshetry</TD></TR><TR><TD class=news>Kathmandu, December 24
The World Bank has agreed to provide $18.2 million grant to Nepal for avian flu control project for the next four years.
"The programme will be launched in January but the agreement will be signed in February," Dr Manas Banerjee, acting director of the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD) said on Saturday.
The representatives of the World Bank, under-secretary at the Ministry of Finance Madhav Ghimire, EDCD director and the director of the Livestock Department held a meeting in New Delhi for four days from December 19 in this regard.
"Though no avian flu case has been reported in Nepal as of now, it is better to take precautions," said Dr Banerjee.
"The fund will be utilised in implementing the 'National Avian Influenza and Pandemic Preparedness and Response' (NAIPPR) programme prepared by the government," said Dr Banerjee. NAIPPR focuses on planning and coordination, surveillance of human influenza, prevention and containment of avian influenza, health systems preparedness and response, communication and the Ministry of Health's laboratory capacity development.
The Health Ministry, Ministry of Local Development, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives will jointly support the programme.
The 'International Pledging Conference on Avian and Human Pandemic Influenza' held in China last year had listed Nepal as one of the high-risk countries, as bird flu was already reported in China while India, too, was listed on the high-risk countries' category. Nepal too has a high risk of avian flu, as migratory birds arrive in Nepal from Russia and China.
The WB has already committed to providing $500 million for avian flu control globally. The government had formed a task force to check avian flu in Nepal immediately after the flu was detected in Vietnam in 2003.
.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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