DCM SPEECHES

Chargé d' Affaires Thomas P. Furey

Remarks

ECOWAS Regional Ministerial Meeting on the Harmonization of Avian Influenza Control Policies and Strategies in West Africa

Friday, June 23, 2006 - 9:00 a.m.
Abuja

Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is an honor to participate in the opening ceremony of the ECOWAS Regional Ministerial Meeting on the Harmonization of Avian Influenza Control Policies and Strategies in West Africa.

Please allow me to also join with ECOWAS in welcoming and thanking all of the honorable ministers and their staff, representatives of regional and international organizations, and other invited guests who have come from around West Africa to review preventive and control strategies for Avian influenza from a regional perspective.

The US understands that Avian Influenza continues to be a serious threat in West Africa. And we believe that the regional dimension is very important, including the need for close cooperation and the timely exchange of information between neighboring countries. And so we commend the ECOWAS Executive Secretariat for organizing these ministerial and technical meetings to exchange ideas on controlling the spread of the highly pathogenic avian influenza in the region.

Although the first rash of outbreaks has subsided, Avian Influenza is still a very real problem for West Africa, with significant economic and social impact on the people and industry affected by the disease. America believes that the top priority in the fight against Avian Influenza is to strengthen surveillance and reporting on both animals and humans. It is particularly important to understand the presence of the disease in small holdings and backyards flocks. Experience, from other affected regions, shows that it is these small flocks that present the greatest danger of human infection and, thus, potential mutation.

And so we urge the ECOWAS member states to ensure that there are no financial disincentives to report sick poultry, and even suggest that ECOWAS member states consider incentives to report. An ongoing public education campaign is vital so that citizens recognize sick chickens and know what steps to take. These are just a few of the issues that I encourage you to consider as you merge your national policies into a coordinated regional response best able to make the most effective use of the resources available to you.

Our knowledge of this potential human health epidemic evolves daily. Each meeting on the prevention and control of avian influenza builds on our collective experience in dealing with outbreaks. But much remains to be done.

In preparing for an outbreak, we should not stop with publishing regional and national emergency plans. Lessons shared around the world continue to support the view that countries must work together to test and implement their preparedness plans so that they are operational from the local, national and regional levels.

The World Health Organization, the World Animal Health Organization (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization have led the way in helping all of us to design the frameworks on which to build our response strategies. These organizations require transparency in reporting the human and animal disease situation within a country. And they have tested frameworks, developed using the experiences of other nations and regions facing Avian Influenza.

I would like to strongly encourage all the ministries involved in Avian Influenza activities to recognize the international guidelines and standards for reporting outbreaks, regulating international trade, and creating travel policies. What you develop here in this forum will contribute to a long-term vision of sustainable systems and policies that will protect West Africa's natural resources, its environment, and most importantly, its people.

The threat of Avian Influenza is global, and each country must step up to meet its international responsibilities. That can only be done, however, when all the stakeholder nations, at all levels of government and industry, work together, as ECOWAS is doing admirably.

The United States stands ready to continue to provide financial and technical support to the joint efforts of ECOWAS members and the UN Agencies as they endeavor to strengthen their response to this devastating disease.

I wish you great success in your discussions and your exchange of ideas.

I am confident that this week's meetings will lead to the development of a comprehensive regional action plan for preventing and combating the spread of the highly pathogenic Avian Influenza in West Africa.

Thank you.

 

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