Pledges of $1.9 Billion at Avian Influenza Conference

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The global threat of avian influenza has moved 33 nations and multilateral institutions to pledge $1.9 billion to fight a possible pandemic of the disease. The pledges were made in Beijing, China, January 18th at the International Pledging Conference on Avian and Human Pandemic Influenza, a conference co-sponsored by the World Bank, the European Commission, and the Chinese government. The amount exceeds the $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion the World Bank said was needed over the next 3 years, an unexpected “oversubscription,” that would allow poor nations to rely more on grants than loans in fighting the disease.

Conference participants focused on the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which has decimated poultry flocks in Asia and has now spread across Eurasia to Turkey. Since late 2003, the virus has killed 79 of the 148 humans it has infected. Experts project H5N1 could kill between 2 million and 7 million people if it acquires the ability to pass easily among humans. The World Bank estimates that a pandemic lasting a year could cost the global economy as much as $800 billion.

The United States pledged $334 million in grants, which includes $31.3 million transferred from funds earmarked for helping survivors of the Asian tsunami in December 2004, $280 million from bird flu-related legislation passed by Congress last winter, and another $22.7 million allocated from funds previously earmarked for international health issues. Among other main donors, the World Bank pledged $468 million and the European Union $260 million, which includes $180 million promised from member nations. Japan will donate $159 million and China $10 million. The donors have been “extremely generous” in pledging so much money with such short notice, said James Adams, vice president of the World Bank. He said the oversubscription makes it less likely that money will be taken from existing economic development programs to pay for fighting the disease.

Nearly $1 billion in grants will be used to meet urgent needs in Southeast Asia, where the disease is endemic, and other regions at risk, especially Africa. The remaining $900 million will be disbursed as loans, for example, to compensate farmers who lose animals to illness or culling. Loans will also be used to help countries stockpile antiviral drugs, enhance animal and human health surveillance systems, develop preparedness plans, and support vaccine research. To apply for the money, nations must send proposals to a committee composed of members from the World Bank and donor nations.