Addressing Avian Influenza and Pandemic Planning in Cambodia

The purpose of this UN Joint Programme  is to explain the approach of the UN System in Cambodia with regard to Avian Influenza and the possibility of Pandemic Influenza.

The details of this programme will be updated as the situation evolves, and as priorities change. The programme is both a description of what is already happening, as well as a statement of important issues which need further attention at this stage. It seeks to summarise current best estimates of remaining funding requirements.

The approach taken by the UN Country Team in Cambodia is:

• To support and reinforce the work already being done by FAO and WHO, with their respective counterpart ministries (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Ministry of Health). Most of the resources are and should be going to the animal and human health sectors. To support the ongoing IEC (Information, Education and Communication) campaigns of UNICEF. All three parts (Animal health, Human Health and IEC) representing the main components in the Government's National Comprehensive Plan on avian and human influenza (AHI).
• To encourage and support national pandemic preparedness planning led from the very top of Government, namely the Prime Minister himself, through the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM), which has been given the mandate to coordinate Cambodia's pandemic preparedness in cooperation with all ministries, especially the MoH.
• To continue planning for the UN system response to a pandemic through ensuring staff safety and health, business and programme continuity, communication structures and the functioning of a UN Crisis Management Team that will coordinate the UN response in a pandemic.
• To ensure that NGOs and donors are fully informed at all stages of planning and operations, so that they can fully play their part.

The UN supports a substantially increased flow of international resources to assist Cambodia to respond to this challenge. It does so because the urgent need exists, but also in the knowledge that effective animal and human health capacity, as well as pandemic preparedness, will serve the larger purpose of building Cambodia's overall capacity to manage its own sustainable human development and ensure human security for its people.

Current best estimates of additional resource requirements for the medium- to long-term amount to US$5.6 million.