Not Enough Public Awareness On Avian Flu - Disaster Expert

BANGKOK, Dec 1 (Bernama) --- Governments in the region have to intensify public awareness on the threat of avian flu or bird flu virus and compensate poor people whose livestock is culled to stop the virus from becoming pandemic, a disaster management expert said Thursday.
Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre executive director Suvit Yodmani said that while many people were aware of the bird flu virus, it was important to ensure that the message reached those in the remote areas as they were more vulnerable.
"Public awareness is essential... people must know the danger of this virus, how to avoid it and where to get help. It must be stopped at the first instance," he said on the sidelines of the First International Symposium on Health GIS (Geo Information System) here.
He said that since the bird flu resurfaced after first hitting the region two years ago, many of the victims were farmers and villagers in the remote parts of affected countries like China, Vietnam and Thailand.
"Who can tell them not to handle sick chicken. They may have five or six chickens and that is their source of income or food," he said.
The World Health Organisation has issued a warning that bird flu will trigger an international pandemic that could kill several million people.
There have been three pandemics in the 20th century, all spread worldwide within a year of being detected.
The worst was the Spanish flu in 1918-19, when as many as 50 million people worldwide are thought to have died. The Asian flu pandemic of 1957 claimed nearly 70,000 lives in the United States and one million worldwide after spreading from China.
In 1968, the Hong Kong flu pandemic is also said to have killed around one million people.
Asia's death toll from bird flu this year has reached 69, including eight in Indonesia and 42 in Vietnam.
Suvit said that to control the virus, culling of poultry was one of the best options but the authorities must come out with proper guidelines and compensation mechanisms so that the affected farmers would be cooperative and their livelihood not jeopardised.
He said other countries in the region could adopt Thailand's success in controlling the virus, where thousand of volunteers were mobilised throughout the country to inform the authorities if they notice signs of these problems in their neighbourhoods.
He said fast action was necessary as the virus could easily spread to other parts of the world.
The ADPC, founded by three United Nations agencies, was working closely with other agencies and governments in the region through disaster management where technical assistance and advice to deal with such problems were given, said Suvit.
"In disaster management, response to disaster alone is not enough, we must also come out with preventive measures. Some of the disasters like avian flu or SARS might be due to development," he said.