The Gambia is part of African countries that will benefit from a programme to combat avian influenza in Africa. Eleven countries are currently affected by the avian flu in Africa. The programme was launched on Tuesday in Dakar attended by representatives from a dozen of countries in the West and Central African regions under an initiative of the African Union (AU).

The project called Support Programme for national action plans includes the fight against avian and human influenza (Spinap-AHI) which is the result of a partnership between the African Union and the European Union (EU). It covers a total of 47 African countries according to Ahmed Elsawalhy, of the Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (Bira), the AU institution organizing the meeting in Dakar.

"We have eleven countries currently affected by avian influenza in Africa. The latest country to be affected in the continent is Benin since December 2007. Benin is next to Egypt and Nigeria, the most affected countries in the list" said Dr Samuel Muruiki, another expert from Bira.

"Therefore, we must take preventive measures to avoid the spread and prepare countries where the disease has not yet been declared" he added.

Welcoming the guests in Dakar's meeting, Oumar Top, the Senegalese government representative at the opening government said "Senegal has so far maintained a proactive institutional and technical bird flu prevention campaign since the year 2005. The strategy includes strengthening border controls.

Dr. Olaniran Alabi whose country has been hit by the avian flu said "Nigeria is trying to contain the outbreak, which caused enormous losses among poultry producers since February 2006 when the Nigerian Government officially acknowledged the outbreak of avian influenza". According to him, everything is now under control. "The Last recorded outbreak was in October 2007. We shot over 1.3 million birds since 2006" he said, adding that his "country has set up a strategic action plan over three years for the control and eventual eradication of the disease".  

The Spinap-AHI program, intends to increase African countries prevention capacities including the provision of technical and financial assistance with funds amounting 30 million Euros. Bira already disclosed to have received 40 applications for funding. "This amount is important, but not enough, because Africa is a big continent with an open poultry production system while veterinary services remain rather very low" Dr Samuel Muruiki stressed.

Apart from Senegal and The Gambia, representatives of Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Benin, Mali, Nigeria, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Chad, Ghana, Niger, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Togo, Chad, Mauritania, as well as the ACP group (Africa-Caribbean-Pacific) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) take part in the meeting.