ERITREA'S IMPROVED READINESS FOR AVIAN FLU

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 000261 SIPDIS SIPDIS LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHER PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHER E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/15/2016 TAGS: AMGT CASC AMED AEMR EAGR EAID KSCA PREL ER SUBJECT: ERITREA'S IMPROVED READINESS FOR AVIAN FLU REF: 05 ASMARA 1105 CLASSIFIED BY: AMB Scott H. DeLisi, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Since December 2005, Eritrea has developed a response plan to Avian Flu. Established recently, the National Avian Influenza Committee is an inter-ministry collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Fisheries and the Ministry of Health. The Committee aims to raise awareness, handle reports and conduct investigations. The Committee established a nationwide hotline, answered by the Office of the Director of Animal Health, to handle reports of dead or ill birds. While they have fielded numerous calls, to date, there are no confirmed cases of bird flu in Eritrea although there has just been a WHO report suggesting that avian influenza may have now. Post hopes to meet with WHO officials March 16 to learn more about their findings. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) PolOff, MgtOff and FSN Nurse met with Dr. Ogbe Gebremichael the Animal Health Division Director of the Ministry of Agriculture to discuss Eritrea's plan for bird flu. Initially the GSE built the response on banning the import of chickens, implying that this was sufficient. Since then, they have seen the light. According to Dr. Ogbe, the GSE was "caught off guard" and now with the spread in the region "people are terrorized." Recognizing the huge role of migratory birds in the spreading of the influenza and Eritrea's large sea coast, the GSE with pressure from the technical experts within the Ministry of Agriculture now have a more comprehensive plan. The plan is multi-tiered including awareness, identification, isolation and quarantine and destructions. ¶3. (C) Yet even with a plan, the GSE resources are limited. In encountering reports of dead or ill birds, the Eritrean approach can be summed up by Dr. Ogbe's direction to a recent response to a report of an ill stork; "destroy and continue vigilence." Presently analysis is limited to preliminary review and assessment of the presented symptoms. While the Ministry of Agriculture staff has received training in technical analysis, they do not have the necessary equipment and supplies. The Committee requested, and finally received, an emergency budget that will allow them to purchase vehicles and fuel as well as testing kits. For the past several months the Ministry of Agriculture has kept dead birds in a warehouse awaiting the testing kits that arrived a few days ago. The tests thus far have all been negative. Furthermore the GSE has not secured the appropriate supplies for shipping samples to European labs. ¶4. (C) The Committee began with organizing training for local government workers of the Health and Agriculture ministries. This training will support efforts to get the word out to rural communities. The GSE supplemented this training with a wide scale public awareness campaign through television, radio and print media highlighting the symptoms of bird flu and the newly establish, now 1 week old, hotline. The Committee's emergency budget of 20,000 USD will allow them to use ten additional vehicles and fuel and purchase supplies, such as the aforementioned testing kits. ¶5. (C) Dr. Ogbe estimated that Eritreans keep nearly three million domestic chickens. Should bird flu be identified, the GSE will conduct a large scale quarantine and destruction campaign. The quarantine will relate not only to poultry but also to humans, preventing their travel as well. The Ministry of Health ordered a small amount of Tamiflu. The GSE plans to destroy any ill birds as well as those nearby. Recognizing the social and economic cost to such a decision, the Committee approached the GSE to provide funds for compensation, however, no decision has yet been made. 6) (C) Comment: The GSE's normal response might be to hide any findings of bird flu - just as it has so far minimized or ignored the serious impact of drought and food shortages on both the human and animal population of this country. Post believes, however, that given the social, food security, public health and agricultural issues they will be unable to keep such a finding a secret for long. We have a good relationship with the Division of Animal Health and believe they would share findings with us. We believe that the GSE might be reluctant to accept assistance directly from the US, however, it would likely welcome help especially if directed through an intermediary such as the WHO or UNFOA. End Comment. DeLisi