JUNE 26 NIGERIA AVIAN FLU UPDATE - NO HUMAN CASES?

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001606

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

USDA FOR FAS/OA, FAS/DLP, FAS/ICD AND FAS/ITP
USDA FOR APHIS
USDA FOR WAYNE MOLSTAD/OSEC
USAID/W FOR AFR/WA ANGELA LOZANO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: TBIO KFLU EAID AMED EAGR NI AVIANFLU
SUBJECT: JUNE 26 NIGERIA AVIAN FLU UPDATE - NO HUMAN CASES?

REF: LAGOS 811

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1. (SBU) Summary. The GON AI Steering Committee met June 14
for the first time since April 20. Nigeria will issue
permits to four major poultry producers to import
grandparent birds for restocking and will discuss possibly
permitting poultry vaccinations. Nigeria does not yet have
a system for disseminating AI-preventive information to the
people. A Ministry of Health official said in the death of
a young girl, "We strongly suspect" she had "all the
symptoms" of AI. The Minister of Health contradicted him
immediately, saying, "From all available evidence" and as a
result of Nigerians' prayers, "we have had no human cases of
AI." The Charge' d'Affaires delivered talking points urging
the GON to take steps against AI. The Minister of State for
Agriculture gave the GON four weeks to produce an integrated
AI plan for the short, medium, and long terms. End summary.


2. (U) The Government of Nigeria (GON) Avian Influenza (AI)
Steering Committee met on June 14 for the first time since
April 20. The committee is composed of the ministers of
health, agriculture, and information. Representatives of
UN agencies, the European Union, the UK High Commission, and
the UK Department for International Development (DFID)
attended.


3. (U) The chief veterinary officer (CVO) said the GON still
did not know how AI entered Nigeria. The government would
issue permits to four major poultry producers to import
grandparent birds for restocking, and the GON would discuss
possibly permitting poultry vaccinations. A Ministry of
Health (MOH) official listed concerns including premature,
improperly carried out restocking; the delayed payment of
compensation; and the source of the initial outbreak, which
he said probably was not wild birds. There "certainly" was
a need for the GON to review its policy on compensation.
The CVO said the government would not compensate any farmer
who restocked illegally.


4. (U) An MOH official said the GON still needed an action
plan to include preparing a pandemic response plan (not yet
done) and an action plan to improve public information for
citizens on the threat of AI. In acting against AI, Nigeria
must do at the state and local-government level what it is
doing at the federal level. The Minister of Health said
more work was needed in coordinating at the state and local-
government levels; that the GON must review its policy on
compensation, including restocking; and that the GON must
ask itself whether all current poultry farmers should remain
in this occupation. Poultry farmers should be exempted from
paying for culling and AI-related veterinary services at the
state level. The GON did not have an integrated AI plan
involving the Ministries of Health, Agriculture, and
Information.


5. (SBU) A World Health Organization (WHO) official said her
main concern was not action by the GON, but rather that
Nigeria's state and local governments act effectively
against AI. A DIFD official said the main problem currently
is Nigeria's inability to spend at the state level AI money
that was already available.


6. (SBU) The Minister of Health said Nigerians believed AI
no longer was a threat, and that a media campaign was needed
to counter this impression. The Minister of State for
Health said Nigeria did not yet have a system for
disseminating AI-preventive information to the people. The
Ministry of Information reported it had issued 21 news
bulletins on AI outbreaks since February 7, when the virus
was first reported in Nigeria.

Disagreement Over Human AI Cases
--------------


7. (SBU) A WHO official said, "We may be missing human cases
of AI in Nigeria, but we just don't know." The MOH's
leading official on AI cited the case of a young girl who

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died, and whose father worked on the AI-affected Sambawa
Farm in Jaji, in Kaduna State. She died of an influenza-
like illness, but no autopsy was carried out. The official
said, "We strongly suspect" the girl had "all the symptoms"
of AI. The Minister of Health contradicted him immediately,
saying, "From all available evidence" and as a result of
Nigerians' prayers, "we have had no human cases of AI."

U.S. Charge' d'Affaires Urges Action
--------------


8. (U) The Charge' d'Affaires was the only foreign chief of
mission present. She delivered talking points that urged
the GON to take steps including strengthened surveillance
and reporting on animals and humans, an effective
compensation policy, and increased cooperation between all
levels of government in Nigeria and the poultry industry.


9. (SBU) The Minister of Health was not aware that the
ECOWAS Regional Ministerial Meeting on the Harmonization of
AI Control Policies and Strategies in West Africa was to
meet June 20-23 in Abuja. The Minister of State for
Agriculture gave the three ministries four weeks to produce
for the GON AI Technical Committee (to include the Ministry
of Science and Technology) an integrated AI plan for the
short, medium, and long terms. The Minister of Health, as
leader of the AI Steering Committee, decided it henceforth
would meet every two weeks. (Comment: The minister
originally wanted to meet weekly, but every two weeks is
more realistic considering Nigerian ministries' lack of
"bench strength" on the issue of AI. End comment.)
FUREY