We should provide incentives to poor African farmers to report immediately if they suspect an outbreak among poultry, and discourage them from rushing to sell birds on the market.

The Middle East and northern African countries should be able to build up a line of defense against avian influenza. FAO is more concerned about the situation in eastern Africa, where veterinary services, due to various constraints, should have more difficulties to run efficient bird flu campaigns based on slaughtering infected animals and vaccination,

The fears are very high because many African countries are not in a very good position to respond to this kind of crisis, ... If there is no more support for veterinary services in Africa, then we may face a very, very severe problem.

The close proximity between people and animals and insufficient surveillance and disease control capability in eastern African countries create an ideal breeding ground for the virus,