FAO predicts new bird flu crisis in 2024

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean strongly calls on countries in the region to maintain a state of alert and cooperate with notification systems to better respond to the impact of new avian influenza. The flu season is considered an “unprecedented situation” due to its evolution.

In the framework of the third regional meeting to respond to highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) emergencies, held this Thursday in Santiago, Chile, the impact of the virus in 2024 is expected to be equal to or greater than last year, when 12.5 million birds were die or must be culled to contain the disease.

The new migration season of birds from the north to the south of the continent is likely to maintain similar behavior to the last one, according to FAO analysis.

In the United States, for example, nearly 100 new outbreaks have been recorded in the past 30 days, while in the Mexican state of Sonora, a resurgence of the H5N1 virus has been recorded since October.

While highly pathogenic avian influenza has not had a direct impact on human health due to the consumption of poultry meat or eggs, considering that the region produces 20.4% of the world’s poultry meat and 10% of the world’s eggs.

The meeting was attended by representatives of official veterinary services from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama, Peru and Venezuela, as well as senior representatives from the World Organization for Animal Health (WHO). The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has requested technical and logistical support from FAO to curb the spread of the disease on the African continent.

“It was a year of great work due to the emergency, but it was also a year of learning and collaboration. The countries of the Group responded to FAO’s call to tackle it as a regional disease. Thanks to the transparent and active cooperation and With real data, we have been able to propose measures that will benefit the entire region, developing a roadmap that will keep the risks of introduction and spread to controlled levels.” and the FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean on Biodiversity.

FAO has a content dissemination agreement with EFE, which aims to keep countries alert and cooperate with notification systems to better respond to regional emergencies.

“Our greatest interest is to be able to contribute through international cooperation to minimize its impact on food security, livelihoods, ecology, biodiversity, tourism and trade,” González added.

In this sense, the organization maintains technical support by strengthening veterinary services, supplying essential materials and supporting the mobilization of resources to respond to emergencies at the regional level.Effie