The Threat of an Avian Influenza Pandemic

As Prepared

Good evening. Thank you for your leadership, commitment and heightened recognition that the threat posed by avian influenza is critical and urgent. As we have heard already from Under Secretary Dobrianski and Secretaries Leavitt and Johann there is a great urgency to our directive as global citizens concerns of a serious outbreak rise.

While the present threat mainly stems from animal-to-human transmission and has been mostly confined to Southeast Asia and southern China - trends are worrisome. This strain of the Influenza A virus could evolve and spread efficiently from human-to-human, placing millions of lives at risk.

The westward spread of AI to places as far away as Russia, Mongolia and Kazakhstan, is further reason to be concerned.The economic ramifications of avian influenza have already been significant with the cost associated with avian influenza and containment efforts already exceededing$10 billion.

A worldwide influenza pandemic would have a major effect on the global economy, including travel, trade, tourism, consumption and eventually, investment and financial markets.

Reflecting its importance, the Administrator for USAID, Andrew Natsios declared Avian Influenza the single most important challenge facing the Agency – even more important than its efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He has directly all 89 USAID missions around the world to take immediate steps to work with national governments to assess the level of national readiness and to identify specific actions USAID can take to support national response.

USAID has already committed nearly $14 million over the past several months to support efforts to contain AI. And is working closely with our other colleagues in the US government, particularly DOS, HHS/CDC and USDA, as well as WHO and FAO to ensure comprehensive and well coordinated actions are taken to minimize the risk posed by AI to animal and human health.

The actual toll of AI will ultimately depend upon how effective our efforts are at containment and response.  The key to an effective response is preparedness, dialogue, political commitment and transparency.

The International Partnership for Avian and Pandemic Influenza (IPAPI) provides a new framework for forging strong political will – and raises the profile of avian influenza worldwide.

This partnership is based on mutual trust, the candid flow of information about human infections, and the rapid provision of samples to the World Health Organization to ensure the appropriate response to reported outbreaks. Our work as a team is crucial to our eventual success.

I pledge to you that USAID, along with our colleagues at State, HHS, and USDA are prepared to do all we can to work with you to prevent and contain the spread of this critical virus.