“We’re going out today,” my hostess said to me. “Want to come?” Well, of course I was up to any adventure that came my way. “Do you want to see the sight of Zebala?” she asked. On further questioning, it appeared that we would be taking a picnic to “The Hill.” Now I really must explain that the area around Zebala, in fact the area around Koutiala, the BIG town some 50km away, is flat…really flat. So…a hill??? Really? Well, we packed up the picnic basket, rounded up my friend’s kids, sent packing a whole load of others who weren’t hers, and loaded up the truck. I was intrigued…why did we need the truck to get there? She made sure I had packed my binoculars and West African bird book. We set off on the road out of the village in the opposite direction to Koutiala. Of course, because it is a village and everyone knows everyone else, we hadn’t gone very far before we had to stop and talk to someone, and then someone else, and then someone else. Finally, we left the village. Where was this hill? She drove and drove and then stopped. I got out. “Are we there?” I asked, feeling extremely puzzled. “This is IT,” she said, beaming with pride. I looked around. Well, we really were on a slight incline, I had to admit that. This is a hill? She explained that it was the only slightly inclined ground for many, many kilometers, and yes, this was our picnic place. I put my piece of cloth on the ground, and contemplated how significant a slight rise of ground is in a landscape where there are no hills. I sat quietly, and took in the peace of the countryside. Suddenly, there was a commotion. A small dog appeared, closely followed by a rather strange looking man in a Bogolan suit. A hunter! One of those enigmatic people that one hears about, but rarely sees. I put my binoculars away quickly in case he thought they were a camera and that I was trying to take his photo. Hunters are prickly creatures. But this one was friendly and my host greeted him in Minianka. He stopped, talked about the weather, and passed on. I did see some rather nice birds, but really it was the peace of the place that struck me - out in the bush, away from most people. Quiet…except for the birdsong and chatter of crickets.

From SIL International

“From Asia to Timbuktu” - Bird Flu Materials for Mali

Country: Mali, Africa
Population: 11,956,788

Field personnel working with local language teams have translated the SIL Bird Flu educational preventative materials for 10 languages in Mali.

In Mali, homeland of the famous Timbuktu, SIL field personnel were invited to join the “Comité Technique de Coordination de la Lutte Contre la Grippe Aviaire” (Technical Committee for the Coordination of the Fight Against Bird Flu) under the sponsorship of the Ministère de l’Elevage et de la Pêche (Ministry of Livestock Breeding and Fishing) to help develop Bird Flu educational materials. The Mali SIL literacy department culturally adapted materials originally developed by SIL in Asia by modifying the text and using a Malian artist. The booklet was translated into Bambara and French (the languages of wider communication). In additon, the poster texts were translated and approved in French and in four national languages - Bambara, Fulfulde, Soninké and Songhai. Translations for other languages, Dogon, Tamasheq, Minyanka, Bozo Tiéyaxo, Bozo Jenaama, and Duungooma, are in process of being checked.

Mali’s President, His Excellency Amadou Toumani Touré was among the attendees who examined the translated Bird Flu materials as they were displayed at the “Journées Paysanes”, an agricultural exhibition and fair held to promote rural issues in Segou, Mali on June 23 - 24, 2006.

While to date there is not a documented bird flu outbreak in Mali, members of the national prevention committee wisely recognized the importance of having risk and prevention materials and committed resources to prepare them in advance. The materials were produced collaboratively by the Insitut de Langues Abdoulaye Barry, the Comité Technique de Coordination de la Lutte Contre la Grippe Aviaire and SIL. They will be distributed once a confirmed outbreak occurs. Mali sets an example by having the materials prepared in various languages should the status change in this potential health threat to their country.

The SIL Bird Flu materials were originally developed by a field team in Asia. As in the Mali case, other language teams and agencies around the world have found them useful. They already have been translated into local languages in countries as diverse as Mozambique, Indonesia, Brazil, and in Central America. (See: free downloadable Bird Flu materials)

One of the drawings for the bird flu booklet by Ali Zoromé, the Malian artist.

Source: IRIN NEWS 

AFRICA: Multi-tier approach to bird flu

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

BAMAKO, 8 December (IRIN) - The United Nations doesn’t have a special agency to prepare for the disaster that could occur if a deadly strain of influenza that is currently killing hundreds of millions poultry and wild birds were to start killing millions of humans, but the world doesn’t need such an organisation, experts say.

“This is a problem that’s just too complex for any one organisation to handle,” John Underwood, a senior adviser for the World Bank, told IRIN in Bamako during a three-day conference on avian flu attended by representatives from more than a hundred governments and international organisations.

On Friday donors announced pledges worth US $475 million for 2007 to prepare for bird flu, adding to some $2 billion pledged since the first outbreak in Asia in 2003. Since then avian flu has been reported in dozens of countries in Asia, Europe and Africa, killing hundreds of millions of birds and poultry while authorities have culled at least 240 million more to prevent the disease from spreading.

Only 258 people are known to have contracted the virus so far but half of them died, thus if the disease were to spread widely amongst humans experts predict a humanitarian catastrophe.

Underwoood, who led the World Bank team that set up a system to finance and monitor national and international efforts to cope with a possible global pandemic, said an array of international organisations are involved as well as many government ministries. Technical expertise is required in animal disease, human disease, food security and disaster management.

Other experts need to prepare for the economic and social effects of a pandemic. The potential fallout was seen when an outbreak occurred in Egypt and the poultry industry collapsed. Communications experts are also preparing to inform and mobilise the public for when outbreaks occur.

The coordinator of all of these activities is David Nabarro, who heads a unit in the UN called the System Influenza Coordination, know by the acronym UNSIC. It has laid out the roles and responsibilities of various UN and partner organisations in an action plan published in November that donors used to decide how they would allocate funds.

The key technical organisations are the World Health Organisation (WHO) the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

Both the FAO and OIE are charged with strengthening veterinary services in developing countries, boosting their abilities to monitor the virus and improving crisis management. WHO’s responsibilities include assisting countries in setting up health systems that can respond to epidemics and pandemics.

As outbreaks could cause malnutrition in some areas, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is working to identify and address possible food security needs. UNICEF has the job of working with governments, and other UN organisations to develop communication strategies and behavioural change to prevent bird-to-bird, bird-to-human and human-to-human transmission.

Other organisations also have small but still important roles. For example, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is preparing contingency plans if flights need to be stopped in areas where there is an outbreak to prevent or at least minimise its spread.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is charged with providing support to workers in the poultry industry, which has already suffered losses of up to US $10 billion from bird flu outbreaks around the world.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) are helping to create Pandemic Influenza Contingency Support Teams around the world, which provide technical support to governments so that they are ready to respond to avian and human influenza and have effective disaster management plans.

Financing the activities of a dozen different organisations and some hundred governments is a complicated matter, Underwood said, particularly as money must sometimes be dispersed very quickly.

Also priorities change quickly, he said. “In January when donors met in Beijing we agreed that Africa was a low priority, but then in February outbreaks started in Nigeria, Egypt and several other African countries and we had to suddenly re-estimate and reallocate funds.”

The World Bank has an emergency trust fund that has some US $10 million grant money available for outbreaks that occur anywhere in the world.

It also has about US $200 million in loan money available, some of which was released in March to help Nigeria cope with its outbreak. Underwood said that a loan can be dispersed quicker than a grant but he didn’t think loans were fair.

“Developing countries shouldn’t have to become indebted in order to help solve a problem that could potentially affect the whole world,” he said.

How money is dispersed to various organisations is even more complicated.
“That’s what you get with this interagency approach,” he said. “Some agencies and countries can get too much finding while others get too little.”

Also monitoring the money is more difficult when it goes to many institutions than when it goes to one big one, he said. “But the world doesn’t need yet another new international organisation,” he said. “It needs existing organisations to adapt to new situations.”

UNSIC coordinator David Nabarro said at the conference that flexibility is the key to managing a potential crisis, which could start anywhere in the world and may or may not be catastrophic to humans. “We are dealing with an uncertain threat but one we know we must prepare for,” he said.

Dh/cs

[ENDS]

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Mali seeks external help to fight bird flu

Bamako, Mali, 02/16 - Livestock and fisheries minister Oumar Ibrahim Touré has appealed to development partners to back Mali`s plan that is under preparation to fight bird flu.

He said the objective of the proposed plan was to prevent the entry of bird flu into the country and enhance its rapid intervention capacity against the infection.

Addressing ambassadors and representatives of international organisations accredited to Bamako on Tuesday, Toure said the plan would cost 862 million FCFA, out of which Mali would provide 322 million FCFA for logistics.

The appeal goes out to development partners that include the European Union, UN Development Programme, Food and Agriculture Organisation, Germany and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) to raise the balance 540 million francs CFA.

Donors have informed Mali that they would examine Bamako`s draft plan to fight bird flu, one source said.

FAO`s resident representative in Bamako, Mrs Mariam Mahamat Nour, offered 13 million FCFA as her agency`s contribution to enable the government acquire reagents, laboratory products, protection equipment and apparatus for extracting samples, among other suppliers.

There are between 4-500 species of birds in Mali. The African Bird Club has a really good set of pages which will give you a lot of information about birds and birding in Mali if you are planning a trip.

Mali contains within its borders huge extremes of habitats, vegetation and avifauna. Key wintering grounds for Palearctic waterbirds and breeding areas for African waterbirds are found where the Niger River forms a large interior delta between the historic cities of Djenne and Timbuktu. The Sahara desert occupies the entire northern half of Mali, and the Sahel zone runs through Mali from east to west, each with its own unique avifauna. South of the Sahel are Sudanian savanna and Guinea savanna. The list of Malian species is currently being revised and will probably total between 400 and 500. Egyptian Plover Pluvianus aegyptius, Cricket Warbler Spiloptila clamans, Chestnut-backed Sparrow Lark Eremopterix leucotis, Sudan Golden Sparrow Passer luteus, African Swallow-tailed Kite Chelictinia riocourii, Fox Kestrel Falco alopex, Hamerkop Scopus umbretta and the endemic Mali Firefinch Lagonosticta virata are not difficult to find.