$500 M needed for African bird flu funds

With more countries in Africa now battling the bird flu, the World Bank reveals that more than $500 million is needed to fight bird flu in Africa.

Already $1.9 billion has been pledged by countries all over the world at the January World Bank conference, but only a small portion of that has been allotted for Africa.

However, the H5N1 virus has spread into Africa and began affecting some of the poorest countries in the continent – Uganda, Niger, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Djibouti, as well as Egypt. That money pledged in January was spent rapidly and is not enough to prepare for a pandemic. So the World Bank is asking for another $1.3 billion in pledges are needed, and hopes $500 M will go to African nations.

[Source: Reuters]

Tags: bird flu, flu pandemic, Africa, World Bank