The Zambian 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.

Lusaka Times reports that Central Province Permanent Secretary, Denny Lumbama, warned 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 US.

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.

Further Reading

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You can visit the Avian Flu page by clicking here.