(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-16 16:08

Countries around the world are expected to pledge at least US$1 billion (euro822 million) to help their poorer counterparts tackle bird flu and prepare for a potential pandemic in humans, a World Bank official said Monday.

"We're anticipating a very generous EU response, we have a very strong commitment from the U.S. (and) we expect the Japanese to come with a strong commitment," said Jim Adams, the World Bank's vice president of operations policy and country services.
His remarks came on the eve of a two-day international donors' conference in Beijing that is focused on efforts to pay for fighting the disease, which has killed at least 79 people in Asia and Turkey since 2003.

Most human cases have been traced to contact with infected birds, but experts fear the bird flu-causing H5N1 virus could mutate into a form that passes easily between people, possibly sparking a pandemic.

The World Bank has said that up to US$1.5 billion (euro1.4 billion) is needed over the next three years to prepare for a pandemic.

Experts have warned it could end up costing the world much more if no action is taken now.

Last week, Dr. David Nabarro, the U.N. coordinator on avian and human influenza, said funds are also needed by international institutions - especially the World Health Organization, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Organization for Animal Health.

Based on the damage that severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, caused to Asia's economy after it emerged in southern China in 2002, the World Bank says a bird flu pandemic in humans could result in US$800 billion (euro640 billion) in global losses in a year.

The European Union has said it will pledge US$100 million (euro83.06 million), but an EU representative at a bird flu conference last week in Tokyo stressed that the union would not support regional stockpiling of antiviral drugs.

Patrick Deboyser instead said the group is interested in helping to strengthen the animal health sector.

"Let's not forget that the reason we all talk about the pandemic is because of this H5N1 virus, which so far is still an animal virus," he said. "So let's fight the animal virus."