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Nigeria [and other countries] to benefit from $7.8m new Avian flu project
By Jimoh Babatunde with agency reports
Posted to the Web: Friday, May 25, 2007
Nigeria is to benefit from a ?3.9 million (approximately US$7.8 million) project that was launched Monday to help poor farmers in developing countries safeguard their livelihoods in the event of future outbreaks of avian influenza.
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) are jointly spearheading this research in Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Mali, and Nigeria, where experts will identify strategies, such as farmer compensation schemes, that can both control the disease and protect poor households from losing critical sources of income.
Funded by the United Kingdom?s Department for International Development, the project will also involve research in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam, where research will be led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Royal Veterinary College, and the University of California at Berkeley.
"In both Asia and Africa, meat and eggs from poultry are important sources of essential micronutrients for vulnerable groups, and poultry production is a central source of income for billions of poor people," explained Dr. Clare Narrod, IFPRI research fellow.
"Our goal is to help developing country governments, civil society, and aid agencies make informed decisions so that the costs of controlling avian flu do not fall disproportionately on the rural poor, who consume their own poultry and rely on it for their livelihoods."
John McDermott, ILRI?s Deputy Director-General for Research, says "In global avian influenza discussions, there are many different perspectives. This project seeks to provide evidence on the impacts and control of avian influenza from the perspectives of developing country farmers, technical staff and policy-makers, to allow them to effectively make decisions of importance to them."
The DFID-funded research programme marks a new approach as previous work has largely focused on eradicating Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) from poultry populations and preparing for a potential human pandemic.
Launching the programme Monday, the UK?s International Development Secretary, Hilary Benn, said: "As well as claiming lives, avian flu - and the measures taken to control it - is damaging the livelihoods of farmers in the developing world. It is important to investigate how best to protect them when avian flu strikes.
"This pioneering research will help find ways of helping the poor while also ensuring appropriate control measures are followed so that farmers do not hide, slaughter or eat infected birds. The first results of the study are expected within a year and will be discussed with policy-makers in Africa and Asia."
The potential impact on agriculture of the continuing spread of HPAI and the fear of this developing into a human pandemic are very great. The World Bank recently estimated that a pandemic could reduce the world?s GDP by five per cent, with a higher proportional loss in developing countries.
To date, HPAI infections have claimed more than 170 lives in 12 countries since 2003 and, in South-East Asia, led to the culling of more than 140 million birds with a total estimated economic loss to the region of more than $10 billion.
Jeff Mariner, senior epidemiologist at ILRI, says, "Although the potential of HPAI to adapt to man and cause a global pandemic is the primary concern motivating much of the donor response to this disease in the world, human disease is as yet a rare event. Very few farming communities have actually experienced human cases.
The primary concern of farmers today is the negative impact that repeated waves of poultry mortality due to HPAI have on their livelihoods. Understanding the impact of HPAI in poultry on people's livelihoods will provide entry points to motivate and drive effective control programmes. Enhanced control of HPAI to reduce the risk of a human pandemic is only possible through win-win scenarios that address the present effects of HPAI."
http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/business/may07/25052007/b725052007.html
By Jimoh Babatunde with agency reports
Posted to the Web: Friday, May 25, 2007
Nigeria is to benefit from a ?3.9 million (approximately US$7.8 million) project that was launched Monday to help poor farmers in developing countries safeguard their livelihoods in the event of future outbreaks of avian influenza.
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) are jointly spearheading this research in Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Mali, and Nigeria, where experts will identify strategies, such as farmer compensation schemes, that can both control the disease and protect poor households from losing critical sources of income.
Funded by the United Kingdom?s Department for International Development, the project will also involve research in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam, where research will be led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Royal Veterinary College, and the University of California at Berkeley.
"In both Asia and Africa, meat and eggs from poultry are important sources of essential micronutrients for vulnerable groups, and poultry production is a central source of income for billions of poor people," explained Dr. Clare Narrod, IFPRI research fellow.
"Our goal is to help developing country governments, civil society, and aid agencies make informed decisions so that the costs of controlling avian flu do not fall disproportionately on the rural poor, who consume their own poultry and rely on it for their livelihoods."
John McDermott, ILRI?s Deputy Director-General for Research, says "In global avian influenza discussions, there are many different perspectives. This project seeks to provide evidence on the impacts and control of avian influenza from the perspectives of developing country farmers, technical staff and policy-makers, to allow them to effectively make decisions of importance to them."
The DFID-funded research programme marks a new approach as previous work has largely focused on eradicating Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) from poultry populations and preparing for a potential human pandemic.
Launching the programme Monday, the UK?s International Development Secretary, Hilary Benn, said: "As well as claiming lives, avian flu - and the measures taken to control it - is damaging the livelihoods of farmers in the developing world. It is important to investigate how best to protect them when avian flu strikes.
"This pioneering research will help find ways of helping the poor while also ensuring appropriate control measures are followed so that farmers do not hide, slaughter or eat infected birds. The first results of the study are expected within a year and will be discussed with policy-makers in Africa and Asia."
The potential impact on agriculture of the continuing spread of HPAI and the fear of this developing into a human pandemic are very great. The World Bank recently estimated that a pandemic could reduce the world?s GDP by five per cent, with a higher proportional loss in developing countries.
To date, HPAI infections have claimed more than 170 lives in 12 countries since 2003 and, in South-East Asia, led to the culling of more than 140 million birds with a total estimated economic loss to the region of more than $10 billion.
Jeff Mariner, senior epidemiologist at ILRI, says, "Although the potential of HPAI to adapt to man and cause a global pandemic is the primary concern motivating much of the donor response to this disease in the world, human disease is as yet a rare event. Very few farming communities have actually experienced human cases.
The primary concern of farmers today is the negative impact that repeated waves of poultry mortality due to HPAI have on their livelihoods. Understanding the impact of HPAI in poultry on people's livelihoods will provide entry points to motivate and drive effective control programmes. Enhanced control of HPAI to reduce the risk of a human pandemic is only possible through win-win scenarios that address the present effects of HPAI."
http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/business/may07/25052007/b725052007.html