AVIAN INFLUENZA: LAO WEEKLY REPORT NO.27

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 VIENTIANE 000332

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/MLS (WEYER),INR, CA/OCS/ACS/EAP
BANGKOK FOR USAID MACARTHUR, RMO, CDC, REO WALLER
HHS FOR EELANDER
PASS TO USTR AND USAID DCARROL

E.O 12958:N/A
TAGS: TBIO ECON SOCI PREL LA KFLU
SUBJECT: AVIAN INFLUENZA: LAO WEEKLY REPORT NO.27


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Announcement of H5N1 in Laos
--------------

1. (U) During the visit of Dr. Nabarro, FAO Representative
Leena Kirjavainen on behalf of Lao Agriculture Minister
Siene announced to the donors that Dr. Webster's group had
found the H5N1 virus in some Vientiane ducks. Although the
Minister has not heard this directly from Dr. Webster, he
said the GOL has taken "active measures" to monitor and
control the area.


2. (U) We told Dr. Webster that the Minister is expecting
formal notification of the discovery. He in turn asked the
Ambassador to formally notify the Ministers on his behalf,
which she did by letter today.

Visit of Dr. Nabarro
--------------

3. (U) Dr. David Nabarro, UN System Senior Coordinator for
Avian and Human Influenza briefed donors on April 4, 2006 on
the meetings in Beijing and the upcoming meeting of
"Partners" in early June in Vienna. Nabarro said he was
impressed with the quality of the GOL pandemic plan. While
more work needed to be done, it was one of the better plans
in the region. Nabarro said he was also impressed with both
the Lao Ministers for Health and Agriculture, with the Lao
Presidential Decree on AI issued in December and with donor
coordination on the ground in Laos. He also indicated that
Laos was in a better funding situation than many other
countries, with adequate funding from bilateral donors and
the World Bank. He singled out the United States for
special thanks on this front.


4. (U) Nabarro said he had several questions for the Asia
region, which he hoped to have answered: Why is it
difficult to get ministries of health and agriculture to
coordinate? What makes the Vietnam program relatively
successful? Why have we found it difficult to work with
governments to intensify communication with the people --
especially in China? What can we do to move the process
forward in Laos, where we have not yet had a new major
outbreak? Nabarro made a strong pitch for continued donor
cooperation and transparency. He also asked the World Bank
to take the lead by meeting with donors and sharing results
from the Bank's upcoming appraisal team, which will decide
on $10 million worth of IDA grants, EU and Japanese
assistance to be disbursed in Laos. Our AI Coordinator has
been asked to join the assessment team. At the meeting,
UNICEF announced that Japan was contributing an additional
$1.4 million to Laos for AI.


5. (U) The Ambassador asked that Nabarro, who had a meeting
scheduled with the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign
Minister Lengsavad Somsavat today, to raise the issue of
delays in getting MOUs (required for all NGO aid projects)
approved through the MFA. Nabarro agreed and stressed the
need again to get the assistance moving.

Formal Donor Meeting
--------------

6. (U) During a formal GoL sponsored Donor Meeting held on
April 6, 2006, the Minister of Health, Dr. Ponmek, restated
his commitment to a GoL donor relationship based on
transparency, and partnership. Dr. Nabarro suggested that
every country needs:

--a strategic plan, with short-term and long-term goals,
which Laos has.
--clarity on a comprehensive technical approach to the
threat -- the capacity to deal with animal infections,
surveillance, alerts and culling. He emphasized the
importance of communications with the public as key to any
success in combating the AI Pandemic Threat. Laos has a way
to go.
--management arrangements with emphasis on identifying POCs
to monitor and report. Laos has begun setting up the

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requisite organization to manage donor relations,
coordination, and progress on implementation.
--direct working relationship with stakeholders. Laos is
working toward this but should provide clearer guidance.
--to ensure there is communication, transparency and harmony
among all the stakeholders. One way is to establish a
"partners" group. Laos is not there yet.
--flexibility to deal with evolving situations. Laos is not
there yet.
--implementing the program plan while still designing --
"build the boat, while sailing it." Laos is not there yet.
--translate the strategic plan into action and develop next
steps, including a National Action Plan. This can be
accomplished through joint appraisals, monitoring and
critiques. Stakeholders are key to insure success. Laos is
not there yet.


7. (U) The GOL announced it has developed an organizational
structure to deal with implementing its strategic plan and
for channeling donor inflows. This newly created National
Avian Influenza Coordinating Office (NAICO) will manage
donor cooperation and overall coordination. They will be
setting up a special account to manage donor funds, of which
only the EU and the Work Bank will participate so far. Dr.
Ponmek stressed that the GoL was appreciative that each
donor has its own accounting structure with different
transfer, spending and reporting requirements, which the GoL
will respect.


8. (U) Dr. Ponmek indicated that the MoH has recommended GOL
approval of the MOU with HHS/CDC, regarding the designated
Infectious Disease/AI Country Coordinator, Dr. Andrew
Corwin. He publicly expressed his support for the overall
MOU.

USAID and USDA Visit
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9. (U) John MacArthur (USAID Infectious Diseases Advisor,
Bangkok) and Russ Nicely (USDA, Bangkok),visited Vientiane
for Dr. Nabarro's visit. Dr. McCarthur introduced the new
USAID supplemental plan intended for Laos, which will total
approximately $3 million dollars in additional resources.
Russ Nicely identified a "local partner" for a proposed Wet
Market Workshop, for the August - September 2006 timeframe.
Both the FAO and Project Care were recognized as having the
capacity to stage a workshop, and established MOUs. Russ
Nicely also discussed how to best position someone from the
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in Laos. One
model being considered is an arrangement mirroring that of
the HHS/CDC Infectious Disease/AI Coordinator.

Haslach