The Caribbean Poultry Association (CPA) is pressing regional governments to prepare for a possible outbreak of avian influenza as the lethal disease continues to rapidly spread westward.
At last report the H5NI strain of the virus was found in birds in both Turkey and Romania.
World Health Organization (WHO) experts believe it is just a matter of time before it is in most countries, resulting in a decimating effect on the region’s poultry industry.
Experts also fear that if it combines with human flu or mutates, it could become highly contagious and lead to a deadly pandemic.
Despite the increasing alarm, CPA officials say they are somewhat disappointed that while health ministries have heeded the concern, the ministries of agriculture seem to be less enthusiastic about implementing the necessary recommendations.
“We don’t see the kind of urgency that we hear in the international press coming from the agricultural officials; we hear it from the health officials,” said CPA Executive Director Robert Best.
“But we know a lot more needs to be done to prepare for the worst and it’s nothing big. But a lot of things have to fall into place to be able to respond quickly. We don’t want to take months to respond. That way if we ever have a problem we would contain it on the first farm. Our countries are so small that once we have it, we are likely to spread very quickly.”
It is with this sense of urgency in mind that the CPA has expanded the focus of a two-day annual general meeting taking place in Nassau to address the issue of avian influenza as top priority.
“This meeting will definitely address how we isolate and protect ourselves from the effects of this disease, considering that this thing could island hop,” said CPA President Robin Phillips.
“And so we have to get national policies that feed into our CARICOM-wide policies and that is the strategy we will be pursuing and working with the various governments to make this happen.”
The Association is hoping The Bahamas largely follows the recommendations of the United Nations’ agencies – the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Organization for Animal Health (IOAH).
“What we are trying to do is get our farms registered, have them more bio-secure so that they can stop the spread of the disease. We are trying to work with the government to put in place disease surveillance programmes so that we could know that we don’t have the disease and if we do have it, we can identify and stop it quickly,” Mr. Best explained.
“But really the challenge we have is to get our colleagues in the public sector to implement the United Nations’ recommendations more quickly than they are doing now.”
According to Mr. Best, those recommendations include each country having a proper lab in place with trained technicians who can identify the avian influenza disease.
“They must also have survey plans,” he said. “All the farmers must be registered. They have to have a way of confirming the disease in case it arises very quickly within a couple of days.
“They have to update the emergency preparedness laws so that the chief veterinary officer and the Office for Disaster Preparedness have the legal powers to quarantine farms and to cull birds. They also have to hold simulations of outbreaks so that they can test whether the systems are working properly.”
Mr. Best added that addressing the issue essentially calls for placing the avian influenza and the bird flu (the human aspect of the disease) at the level of hurricane preparedness.
“Right now we are treating them at a lower level in some countries, ” he said.
Trade and Industry Minister Leslie Miller, who addressed the participants on Thursday, acknowledged that the necessary parameters call for large amounts of money.
But CPA officials have stressed the tremendous drawbacks – both from a health and economic perspective – were the disease to make its way to the Caribbean.
“There could be a drop in the consumption of poultry just because customers are fearful of consuming these products even if it is not a problem and so there are economic issues at hand,” Mr. Phillips said.
“And then there is the health aspect if the disease were to enter the country. That would be a serious problem.”
Poultry is said to be the largest source of protein for Caribbean residents.
The CPA was formally established in Jamaica in April 2000 to promote the development of the Caribbean broiler and table egg industries.
There are currently 18 members, 14 poultry companies and nine CARICOM countries, which altogether account for over 70 percent of the region’s production.
The Association provides direct employment for over 30,000 people not including employment in the production of associated corn, rice and supporting services.
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
