Over US$1.8 billion of donations were collected for reinforcing global efforts in bird flu prevention and control on Wednesday at the International Pledging Conference on Avian and Human Pandemic Influenza.

 

"This conference has been very successful," the European Union (EU) commissioner for health and consumer protection Markos Kyprianou said.

 

"Originally, we have estimated the financial need to cover the financial gap was around US$1.2 billion. We went beyond that amount," he told press after the meeting.

 

Sources with China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the pledged donations include US$121.6 million from the the European Commission, US$134.9 million from the EU, US$468 billion from the Asian Development Bank, US$334 millions from the United States and US$155 million from Japan.

 

Australia, France, Germany, Canada and Britain also pledged their donations, the ministry said.

 

Kyprianou said nearly US$1 billion had been pledged in grants, which would go mainly to developing countries "that are in most need."

 

The remaining donations would come in loans, he said.

 

To ensure the fund to be used effectively and productively, the conference adopted a multidonor financing framework report on avian and human influenza.

 

The framework outlines a financing framework that is linked to a set of currently identified priority funding needs.

 

"There are a number of important priorities for grant funding: for the infected or high-risk countries, notably Cambodia, China, Indonesia, the Laos, Mongolia and Vietnam; and for integrated core programs in Africa," the framework report says.

 

The report said the financing framework is designed to be flexible. "Given the nature of the disease, these funding needs can change rapidly, notably if new outbreaks of the animal disease are not addressed in a timely fashion."

 

Meanwhile, participants of the donors' conference also passed a Beijing Declaration, committing themselves to ensuring effective development and implementation of integrated national action plans guided by political leaders at the highest level and mobilizing all sorts of resources in their own countries to join the global fight against bird flu.

 

They also pledged to subscribe to a long-term strategic partnership between the international community and the countries currently affected or at risk in which adequate and prompt financial and technical support is mobilized to support those countries.

 

The declaration says the countries are committed to sharing information and relevant biological materials related to avian influenza and developing capacity and infrastructure in animal and public health sectors.

 

"We've got an excellent declaration," UN's coordinator on avian and human influenza David Nabarro said, adding that the commitments were made "not only in terms of cash, but also in terms of partnership, in terms of openness on information, in terms of cooperation on research, in terms of evaluating results and impact."

 

The conference was held under the co-sponsorship of the Chinese government, the European Commission and the World Bank. Nearly 700 representatives from over 100 countries and 20 international institutions attended the conference.

 

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao delivered a speech at the conference, announcing that the Chinese government would donate US$10 million to the global combat against avian influenza.

 

He also promised that China will continue to offer assistance within its capacity to its neighboring countries through bilateral channels.

 

Avian influenza has now spread from Asia to the Middle East and Europe with the prospect that the disease might also spread to Latin America, Africa and elsewhere.

 

So for nearly 80 people were reported dead from the disease and over 150 were found infected. Experts worried that if not detected, reported promptly and contained effectively, a pandemic could potentially kill millions and cause catastrophic consequences in the areas of global economic growth, trade and security.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2006)