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| Contributing Partner: |
Internews |
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Summary:
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 The only way for Africa to combat bird flu successfully is through an effective communication strategy that enables the public to prepare both for outbreaks in their poultry stocks and for a possible human pandemic. |
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Description:
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Three weeks ago, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization's deputy director-general said that by arriving in Turkey, the H5N1 bird flu virus had reached the crossroads of Asia, Europe and Africa, and that there was a real risk of it spreading further.
"If it were to become rooted in the African countryside, the consequences for a continent already devastated by hunger and poverty could be truly catastrophic," he added.
His words were prophetic. Last week, Africa's first outbreaks of H5N1 were detected in poultry farms in northern Nigeria, meaning that bird flu is now a real spectre hovering over the entire continent. |
| URL: |
http://www.scidev.net/content/editorials/eng/bird-flu-a-wake-up-
call-to-the-african-media.cfm
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