Nepali Ministry of Health and Population has sought an aid package of 8.1 million US dollars from the World Health Organization (WHO) for an national avian influenza pandemic preparedness and response plan for the country.     

    "No case of bird flu has been reported in the country yet, but prevention is always better than cure. Hence, the government come up with the plan to check possible spread of bird flu from migratory birds," director at the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division Mahendra Bahadur Bista told reporters here on Monday.

    "We have sought from the WHO an aid package of around 8.1 million dollars for the program," he said.

    According to the plan, 3.1 million dollars are for prevention and reduction of risk to humans, 4 million dollars for health systems preparation and responsibility, 75,000 dollars for planning and co-ordination, 632,000 dollars for surveillance, 45,000 dollars for communication and 225,000 dollars for laboratory development.

    Led by Bista, a three-member team participated in a seminar last week in Bangkok, which gathered 55 participants from 11 countries from the Southeast Asian region.

    According to WHO, the cumulative number of confirmed human cases of Avian Influenza (H5N1) is 132 -- with 68 deaths reported from Dec. 26, 2003 till Nov. 25, 2005 in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and China.

    The major objective of the proposed plan is to stop the spread of bird flu in Nepal, develop a surveillance system for migratory birds, find out the risk differences between human beings and animals, capacity building and strengthening the health care delivery system, according to Bista.