Alarmed by the spread of bird flu beyond Asia, nations pledged nearly US$2 billion yesterday to fight the virus, and stave off a possible flu pandemic.
The amount far exceeded the US$1.5 billion the World Bank had said was needed to tackle the threat in developing countries, where hundreds of people have been infected, mostly in Southeast Asia.
David Nabarro, the UN coordinator on avian and human influenza, described the US$1.9 billion total in pledges as "brilliant" and "quite extraordinary."
"What we've seen today is that the world really does care and wants to respond effectively to the threat of avian influenza and a possible human pandemic," he told reporters at the end of a two-day fundraising conference in Beijing.
Although primarily a disease affecting poultry, the H5N1 virus has jumped to humans, killing 79 people in Asia and Turkey since 2003.
With a mortality rate of over 50 percent, experts are worried that the virus could mutate into a form that spreads easily from person to person, sparking a flu pandemic killing millions.
So far, most human cases have been traced to contact with infected birds.
A senior World Bank official said that last year had been a taxing time for the donor community, but that the amount of money pledged in Beijing reflected international concerns about bird flu.
"The donor community came to Beijing focused on avian flu and I think it's been a very strong commitment," Jim Adams, head of the World Bank's Avian Flu Task Force said.
But he said that nations now needed to focus on using that money effectively.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that fighting bird flu in poultry was the best way to prevent the likelihood of a human flu pandemic.
"Avian flu should not be considered as a human health issue, but as a human and animal health issue," FAO head David Harcharik said.
The US would take a leadership role in helping to manage the funds and ensure that they are channeled to where they can be of most use, said the US coordinator for health, science and the environment, Nancy Powell.
The US pledged US$334 million, the second highest amount after the World Bank's US$500 million. The US also said it will invest billions of dollars over the next three years to develop a human vaccine, something medical experts have said cannot be done until the bird flu virus mutates into a human flu virus.
Japan donated US$159 million, China -- which has reported eight human infections, five of which have been fatal -- said it would donate US$10 million.
The spread of the virus from Asia to Turkey, where 21 human infections have been reported, spurred European countries to raise initial commitments.
EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said the EU pledged US$121 million, and the bloc's 25 member states pledged about US$138 million in total.
"Never before has humankind had a window of opportunity to prepare for the event of a pandemic before it actually happens," Kyprianou said yesterday.
"And now we know what needs to be done," she added.
The funding conference, co-sponsored by the World Bank, the European Commission and the Chinese government, follows a global bird flu coordination meeting held two months ago in Geneva, which brought together participants from 100 countries.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
RSS