First grant awarded for avian influenza programmes

This grant is the first approved by the Facility, which was created with generous commitments from eight donor agencies, including the European Commission as lead initiator and largest donor, to help the poorest developing countries prepare and implement integrated country action plans designed to reduce the social and economic impact of avian influenza and minimise any possible outbreak of a human flu pandemic. The grants are intended to support integrated interventions in the animal and human health aspects.

This grant is in addition to a US$4 million International Development Association (IDA) grant approved by the World Bank under the Global Programme for Avian and Human Influenza Control and Preparedness (GPAI). The GPAI provides emergency financing to participating countries, in order to contain outbreaks of avian flu through early detection and rapid response measures and to help countries prepare for a possible human influenza pandemic.

The Facility and IDA grants are part of a comprehensive US$14 million package to address the priorities already identified in the Lao PDR Government’s National Plan for avian and human influenza control. Other support for Government’s efforts is being provided by bilateral donors, multilateral agencies, a number of UN organisations, including FAO, WHO, UNICEF, and UNSIC, and a grant from the Policy and Human Resources Development (PHRD) Programme funded by the Government of Japan.