STEPS AND STUMBLES FORWARD IN BANGLADESH'S BIRD FLU

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 000976 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO AIAG/HOLLIS SUMMERS, AIAG/TONY NEWTON AND AIAG/NICHOLAS STUDZINSKI DELHI PLEASE PASS TO FAS/OLIVER FLAKE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TBIO KFLU PREL PGOV BG SUBJECT: STEPS AND STUMBLES FORWARD IN BANGLADESH'S BIRD FLU RESPONSE REF: (A) DHAKA 776, (B) DHAKA 743, (C) DHAKA 730, (d) DHAKA 626 AND PREVIOUS ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. In early June, Dinajpur became Bangladesh's twelfth district to report H5 infection, but the first where local officials initially identified the infection in local backyard birds instead of in commercial poultry farms, showing that Bangladesh continues to refine its Avian Influenza response. Other steps forward by the GOB include negotiating a five-year, US$37 million Avian Influenza Preparedness and Response Project with the World Bank, and implementing a compensation plan for culled birds. These steps include some stumbles, such as reports of improper veterinary procedures and a lack of coordination with human health officials in Dinajpur, and a lack of urgency on approving USAID and Centers for Disease Control funds for outbreak response. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) THE OUTBREAK SITUATION. As of June 11, Dinajpur, in the far northwest became the twelfth and most recent district in Bangladesh to report an outbreak. (See map at http://10.208.1.12/avian/maps/OutBrkMapJun11. pdf; post's Avian Influenza webpage, http://10.208.1.12/dhkavianinfluenza.htm has other relevant documents.) In contrast to other H5 detections, this outbreak was first identified due to die offs in backyard, local species poultry and not at commercial poultry farms. As a result, local health, police, and Bangladesh Rifles border security forces culled approximately 3,000 domestic chickens, pigeons, and ducks which local folklore often considered as not vulnerable to H5N1. Based on discussions with Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock officials, veterinary officers in Dinajpur did not properly dispose of the carcasses from the culling, indicating the need to continue reinforcing training on basic procedures. Also, human health officials were not coordinated with the veterinary officials, demonstrating continued gaps in a complete surveillance effort and problems with GOB interagency cooperation. ¶3. (SBU) THE WORLD BANK PROJECT. GOB and World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) concluded negotiations in early June for a five-year, two-part, US$37 million Avian Influenza Preparedness and Response Project. The World Bank will allocate US$16 million from existing human health programs in IDA credits and pooled grant resources from participating donors to fund the Avian Influenza Component of the Health, Nutrition and Population Sector Program. The other, new part of the project is a US$21 million program focusing on enhancing prevention and preparedness capability, improving human pandemic and avian influenza prevention and control planning, including strengthening of disease surveillance, diagnostic capacity and laboratory facilities. The US$21 million budget will be funded as follows: US$16 million from IDA, US$3 million from the Avian Human Influenza Trust Grant, and US$2 million from the GOB. In the GOB's recently announced budget, several avian influenza related items have appeared, including special projects in prevention and control (US$2.7 million in FY08),poultry technology development and testing (US$2.6 million in FY08),as well as measures continuing duty-free access to equipment needed in the outbreak response. ¶4. (SBU) COMPENSATION. GOB has begun paying compensation to culled farmers on a fixed schedule: taka 70 per layer chicken, taka 60 per broiler, taka 15 per chick under three months, and taka 3 per egg. NOTE: US$1 = Taka 70 END NOTE. At this time, funding for the compensation is coming from the GOB treasury, despite both USAID identified local currency and World Bank funds being specifically earmarked as available for use in compensation plans. The GOB compensation scheme also includes hatchery owners and other industry actors committing to provide at no cost for one month to culled farms: day old chicks, poultry feeds, and medicines. Industry representatives worked as part of the GOB committee developing these rates, but reports from media and USAID officers are that poultry farmers out in the countryside are neither satisfied with the rates set nor with the slow pace of distribution. (COMMENT: Seventy taka per bird is close to market rate for a one kilogram bird, but not for a larger three kilogram bird. Given the problems in assessing culled stocks, a simplified compensation structure and tight controls by the GOB on releasing compensation are understandable, but appear to be hindering the compensation plan from becoming an effective tool in encouraging rapid reporting to stop the spread of the virus. END COMMENT.) DHAKA 00000976 002 OF 002 ¶5. (SBU) US AND MULTILATERAL DONOR EFFORTS. USAID continues to press on completing the GOB's required bureaucratic processing on the proposal to use local currency funds identified as being available for Bird Flu response. GOB remains interested in using the funds; internal obstacles are however only slowly being overcome. In the same vein, the first tranche of US$375,000 from the Centers for Disease Control's grant to increase laboratory capacity and support human surveillance at the GOB's Institute for Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research continues to wind its way slowly through GOB channels. BUTENIS