FAO predicts a new bird flu crisis in 2024

The Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) made a strong appeal to the countries of the region to maintain a state of readiness and cooperate with the notification systems to better face the impact of the new season bird flu which due to its evolution was considered a “an unprecedented situation.”

In the frame III Regional Meeting of Emergency Responses to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI)) held this Thursday in Santiago de Chile, the impact of this virus is estimated for the year 2024, and is expected to be equal to or greater than last year, in which 12.5 million birds died or had to be sacrificed to control the virus disease.

According to FAO analyses, this new one bird migration season that traveling from the north of the continent to the south, they have a high probability of maintaining behavior similar to the past.

In the United States, for example, they were over 100 new outbreaks in the last 30 days, including in Mexico There was a repetition H5N1 virus in the state of Sonora since last October.

Although highly pathogenic avian influenza has not had a direct impact on human health due to the consumption of poultry meat or eggs, it creates a problem for livestock farmers in the region, considering that 20.4% of influenza is produced in that area. poultry meat and 10% eggs worldwide.

At the meeting attended by representatives of the official veterinary services of the City Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama, Peru and Venezuela, in addition to high representatives on World Organization for Animal Health (WHOA) and from Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Technical and logistical support was requested from FAO to prevent the spread of the disease on the continent.

“It was a year of a lot of work due to the emergency situation, but at the same time of learning and cooperation. This group of countries heeded the FAO’s call to treat it as a regional disease. Thanks to transparent and active collaboration, with real data, we have been able to propose measures that benefit the entire region, creating a plan to keep the risk of introduction and spread at controlled levels,” said Andrés González, Officer for Sustainable Livestock, Animal Health and Biodiversity of the FAO Regional Office -a for Latin America and the Caribbean.

It is in the interest of FAO, the organization with which EFE has a content dissemination agreement, that countries remain on alert and cooperate with alert systems to better deal with regional emergencies.

“Our greatest interest is that through international cooperation we can contribute to reducing the impact it can have on food security, livelihoods, ecology, biodiversity, tourism and trade,” added González.

In this sense, the organization maintained technical support, through the strengthening of veterinary services, the supply of basic materials and support for the mobilization of resources to deal with unforeseen cases at the regional level.