Bioethics and pandemic flu preparedness: India pledges $2m for fight against bird flu
The global fight to contain the deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus is richer by over $400 million. Nine donor countries, including India, on Thursday pledged $406.1 million for pandemic preparedness.
While US was the single largest donor, pledging $195 million, Japan pledged $69 million, Germany $4.3 million and India $2 million.
The European Commission donated 78.4 million euros followed by France with 5.1 million euros, UK with £5 million, Greece with 300,000 euros and Norway with $1.75 million.
The pledges came on the final day of the high-level international ministerial conference on avian and pandemic influenza in Delhi.
But the good news ends there. According to estimates, the world is short by over $800 million to be fully prepared for a future bird flu pandemic.
What’s worse, the number of international donors and the amounts pledged to combat bird flu has started to dip consistently. While the same conference in Beijing in January 2006 saw 35 donors come forward to pledge a whopping $1.3 billion, 17 donors pledged $475 million in Bamako in December 2006.
Experts now fear that the global commitment towards better preparedness against the virus may have started to wane.
Speaking to TOI, Olga Jonas from the World Bank’s avian influenza operational response team said, “It’s very difficult to mobilize funding for disaster preparedness. The tendency is usually to underestimate such catastrophes and be unprepared for their disastrous outcomes.”
The bank estimates that a pandemic will cost the planet up to $2 trillion. WHO DG Margaret Chan said 28 million people would need hospital care and work absenteeism would reach 35% of the global workforce if the pandemic arrived.
Around 20% of the population will fall ill during the next influenza pandemic. At present, the H5N1 virus records a very high mortality rate — 61%. “The conclusion is obvious. Preparedness is key,” Chan added.
