Funding: This $38 million regional technical assistance project (RETA 6313), approved on 14 March 2006, is financed by grants from the Asian Development Fund ($25 million), Japan Special Fund ($10 million), and ADB's Technical Assistance Special Fund ($3 million). In April 2007, an additional grant from the Government of Canada, through the Canadian International Development Agency, brought the total amount for the Project to $42.2 million.
Purpose: The project is helping developing member countries of ADB respond to avian influenza and prepare for a possible human influenza pandemic. ADB supports direct interventions financed by the Project or works through partners, in particular the ASEAN Secretariat, Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, and World Health Organization.
Achievements
The Project has four components - the avian influenza response facility (AIREF) regional capacity development, regional coordination, and Project management.
Emergency Response: In April 2007, ADB provided $1.5 million to Bangladesh via FAO in response to the country’s first ever outbreaks among poultry and to serve as “bridging” financing until larger resources from global facilities could be mobilized.
The funds helped Bangladeshi authorities in improving operations of a central, 24-hour Emergency Control Room and trained an Avian Influenza Committee and Rapid Response Team in each of 64 affected districts. FAO experts are continuing to assist the Bangladeshi authorities inspect the countries’ affected farms, cull poultry and implement communication campaigns in the community.
ADB’s emergency assistance to Myanmar for avian influenza, approved in 2006, proved useful when the illness hit the country again in February 2007. ADB assistance has been used for upgrading the National Health Laboratory and reference laboratory in Myanmar, which is now able to perform in-country diagnosis of H5N1 both in human and animals, and to enhance national coordination.
Cross-Border Activities: In September 2007, the Steering Committee approved a proposal from a partnership of international NGOs to strengthen the role of nongovernment and community organizations in combating avian influenza through cross-border community based activities.
The project will help local organizations better engage with governments to include homegrown solutions into national policies for avian influenza control and prevention. This project covers cross-border activities in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam.
Capacity Building and Coordination: The project has been assisting the Bangkok regional office of FAO’s Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Disease Unit in the prevention and control of HPAI through strengthening surveillance and response by veterinary services.
Through the Project, the ASEAN Secretariat continues to strengthen its Work Plan for the Control and Eradication of HPAI in the ASEAN Region.
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The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Regional Communicable Diseases Control (CDC) Project was approved in November 2005 with the goal of containing the spread of communicable diseases (including avian influenza and HIV/AIDS) and reducing the burden of common endemic diseases. The project, covering three countries - Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Viet Nam – is financed by a $30 million grant from the Asian Development Fund and $900,000 from WHO.
The Project comprises three main activities:
- Strengthening the national surveillance and response system
- Improving CDC for vulnerable populations
- Strengthening regional cooperation in CDC.
The First Regional Public Health Forum in Communicable Disease Control and Health System Development was held in Vientiane, Lao PDR, on 5 November 2007. Participants from six Mekong countries developed recommendations on regional cooperation in health and regional health strategies.
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This technical assistance (6305), approved in January 2006, is intended to help reduce vulnerability to communicable diseases in the three countries and better coordinate and harmonize surveillance and response systems. ADB grant funding for the project totals $1.2 million.
- In Indonesia, an International Health Regulation (IHR) Secretariat was established in the Ministry of Health, and feedback and dissemination of surveillance and response information were strengthened.
- In Malaysia, an assessment of ports was done on IHR (2005) compliance, and support for improvement of laboratory surveillance was provided.
- In the Philippines, support was provided to the Philippine Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (PIDSR) System in preparation for its full implementation.
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ADB approved this regional technical assistance (6108) on 23 May 2003 for $2 million. Additional cofinancing of $3 million in September 2003 from the Japan Special Fund and $500,000 in June 2004 from the International Cooperation and Development Fund brought the grant funds to $5.5 million. This allowed a wider scope to include activities related to avian influenza and other emerging infectious diseases.
Resources from this project continue to support control of outbreaks and strengthening of surveillance and response. Its funds are being used for training, equipment, surveillance, monitoring and assessment, and meeting other public health system needs. The project is also strengthening human resources in public health services such as conference and short-term training programs that focus on surveillance, infectious disease control, emerging disease management, and related issues.
Philippines: The project is expanding training on avian influenza, pandemic influenza, and SARS to municipal and city health workers. Government departments are collaborating to provide training on dengue prevention and control in local water utilities, training of dengue management in hospitals, and communication campaigns for schoolchildren.
Afghanistan: The Government of Afghanistan, through the Ministry of Public Health, requested ADB to assist in strengthening the country’s newly established surveillance system for avian influenza and train Provincial Public Health Officers in establishing emergency preparedness and response capability for a possible pandemic influenza. Activities in Afghanistan are ongoing.
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