Liberia battles against bird flu

Liberia: Gov't. Prepares to Combat Bird Flu



The Analyst (Monrovia)

September 20, 2006
Posted to the web September 20, 2006

J. Ebenezer Daygbor

The government of Liberia, through the National Task Force on the control and prevention of Avian Influenza (bird flu), has announced series of mechanisms to battle the virus, which is mainly found in birds.

Making the disclosure recently in Monrovia, the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Chris Toe, said the government has developed a national contingency plan for the eventual prevention and control of Avian Influenza in the country.

Minister Toe said the plan is designed within the context of a national preparedness strategy to deal effectively and efficiently with any outbreak in Liberia, adding that the plan has been submitted to international donors including the United States Aid for International Development for funding.

He members of the National Task Force include the Ministers of Agriculture, Health and Social Welfare, Internal Affairs, Education, Commerce, and Information. Other members include Bureau of Immigration, Customs, National Port Authority as well as several international partners.

The Agriculture boss said local task forces have been created at the district and community levels to raise awareness about the disease and educate the public how to handle and report cases of dead birds suspected of Avian Influenza.

According to him, the task force has also embarked on strengthening and building human resource and institutional capacities to deal with any eventual outbreak of the disease in Liberia.

A Liberian veterinarian doctor has been trained in Malawi to manage cases of Avian Influenza and other livestock while personnel from the Agriculture Ministry and the Health Ministry have also received training in Kenya and Burkina Faso respectively to deal with the situation if it arises.



According to the Minister, government is currently discussing with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to establish central and regional veterinary diagnostic laboratories in the country to test suspected cases.

Dr. Toe pointed out that a communication group of the National Task Force has organized three separate awareness and sensitization workshops for media institutions as well as members of the local task forces and disclosed that the group has produced and distributed thousands of posters with different messages on the prevention and control of Avian Influenza including radio announcements and jingles in eight local Liberian dialects.

He said the government has established hotlines to report suspected cases of dead or sick birds and the numbers are: LoneStar GSM 190; Libercell's 0479000; and Cellcom's 180555; Commium's 1425 and other networks to Cellcom -071800555.