Japan pledges bird flu aid to ASEAN at regional gathering

Japan pledges bird flu aid to ASEAN at regional gathering

Agencies, Kuala Lumpur

Japan pledged US$135 million in aid for Southeast Asian nations
on Monday to fight bird flu, a Japanese official said.

The assistance was announced by Japanese Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi in a meeting with Asian leaders to talk about
boosting economic ties, as well as fighting terrorism and other
problems shared by the region.

Japan's aid package includes help to provide a stockpile of
Tamiflu for 500,000 people in the 10-member Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the official told reporters on
customary condition of anonymity.

World demand has been growing for Tamiflu, a drug believed to
lessen the severity of the disease of people who contract
influenza from poultry infected with bird flu. According to the
World Health Organization figures, 69 people have died of bird
flu since 2003 in Asia.

The Japanese aid includes the $2 million help Koizumi
announced during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit
last month in Busan, South Korea to improve the World Health
Organization's surveillance and drug distribution capacities.

The official said that Japan will host an international
conference Jan. 12-13 in Tokyo to discuss the early containment
of a possible pandemic.

Japan's Kyodo news agency reported that about $46.8 million
will be used for buying Tamiflu, influenza test kits and sanitary
clothing.

Another $49.1 million will be distributed through
international agencies for vaccination projects and $19.3 million
for steps to strengthen their control of the epidemic among
chickens, said Kyodo.

It said that for each of the next three years, Japan will
provide training on countermeasures against bird flu to at least
100 people from Asia -- including researchers, medical personnel,
animal health specialists and administrative officers in charge
of health care.

Southeast Asian nations agreed on Monday to create a stockpile
of antiviral drugs to combat the spread of bird flu throughout
the region.

ASEAN also pledged to work more closely on tackling cross-
border threats like bird flu by developing a regional approach
and sharing resources.

"We must be in a state of preparedness," Malaysian Prime
Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told reporters.

He added that the stockpile would be available to any ASEAN
country that might need it.

While the bird flu virus remains relatively hard for people to
catch and is spread almost exclusively through human contact with
birds, health officials fear it could mutate into a virus that
could pass from person to person and set off a global pandemic.

Malaysia also reiterated an offer made at the World Health
Organization meeting in Geneva last month to establish a regional
center for influenza.

"We seek the support of (ASEAN) member countries to establish
this regional WHO collaborating center in Malaysia, since the
existing few WHO reference centers for human influenza are
located outside the ASEAN region," Abdullah said.

"It will be Malaysia's contribution towards global health
security."