ASEAN task force to prepare detailed plans to combat bird flu

Asian Economic News, Dec 29, 2004

SINGAPORE, Dec. 21 Kyodo

Member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will prepare detailed plans to combat the threat of bird flu, a deadly disease that has become endemic in the region, according to a statement issued at the end of a two-day meeting of an ASEAN task force on tackling the disease.

The task force of officials and experts has assigned each member country specific tasks, such as stepping up disease surveillance, border control, establishment of disease free zones and sharing information region-wide on the disease, said a statement issued by the Agri-food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore.

The plans will be considered at a follow-up meeting to be held in Thailand in May.

Singapore Minister of State for National Development Cedric Foo said in a speech at the opening of the meeting Monday that overcoming avian influenza is ''the single most pressing agricultural and public health issue'' facing Southeast Asia.

The two-day meeting involved more than 50 officials and experts from the 10 member countries of ASEAN, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, the Netherlands and international organizations such as the World Health Organization, the Food and Agricultural Organizations and the World Organization on Animal Health.

The task force had been proposed by Singapore and ASEAN ministers agreed to establish it at a meeting earlier this year.

The disease has spread among poultry in many Asian countries including Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and China.

The World Health Organization says there have been 44 cases of human infections in Thailand and Vietnam, in which 32 people died.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.