Government says there is need for the country to continue putting in place measures to effectively prevent and control the spread of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) commonly known as bird flu.
Central Province Permanent Secretary Denny Lumbama said in Kabwe yesterday that if not properly managed, the disease had the potential to spread rapidly and escalate to pandemic proportions.
Mr. Lumbama said this is the reason why government has continued to play a proactive role and was paying great attention to the preparedness programmes.
He was speaking at the Influenza rapid response Training programme held at Tuskers hotel and supported by STOP-AI, an organization based in the United States of America.
Mr. Lumbama noted that although Zambia was free of the disease, the country was at high risk of getting bird flu because of the migratory birds that visited Zambia from other parts of the world.
He said trade in poultry and poultry products and increased human traffic also put the country at high risk.
Mr. Lumbama said government created an Avian Influenza Task Force whose mandate was to put in place measures to prevent the spread of the disease. He said that in the case that the country is affected, the task force should prevent the disease from further spreading to other parts of the country.
ZANIS
There are so many unanswered questions behind the spread of this disease – some of them being:
How can the flu spread so quick in a hot, arid climate like ours?
Why are there 2 different types of vaccines? Here in Germany, there have been protests because politicians were receiving a different type of vaccine from the rest of the population.
The mystery continues to unfold…
That is OK lets hope MOH is not relaxing on Swine Flu as the preventative measures must be the same? Flu is Flu mwana, Pig, bird, Asian all the same coughs and sneezes spread deseases
#1 Nine Chale
Spot on brother,there is plan to reduce the world population by 80%.People wake up!!
This is what is happening in ukraine and is not reported on bbc,cnn,sky, and fox news.
KIEV, Ukraine – Urging its citizens not to panic, Ukraine yesterday closed all schools nationwide for a week to avoid the spread of swine flu and suggested that nightclubs, cinemas, and food markets in the west also shut down.
Don’t take the vaccine!!