This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS ROME 001006 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR IO/EDA, EUR/SE, EUR/WE, NEA/ENA, EA/SEA, OES/IHA 
USAID FOR DCHA/OFDA GGOTTLIEB, PMORRIS; GH/KHILL, DCARROLL 
AND BZINNER; AFR/MHARVEY, ALOZANO; EGAT A/AA JSMITH; 
ANE/ACLEMENTS, K/CRAWFORD; EGAT/AG JYAZMAN AND JTHOMAS 
USDA FOR OSEC STUMP/PENN/LAMBERT/CAINE, 
FAS PETTRIE/HUGHES/CLERKIN, APHIS CLIFFORD/HOFFMAN 
DAKAR FOR USAID/OFDA/RDAVIS AND JSCICCHITANO 
ACCRA FOR USAID/WARP HBOTTEMBERG; KCOONEY 
GENEVA FOR NKYLOH/USAID 
HHS FOR OGHA (STEIGER) 
BRUSSELS FOR USAID/PLERNER AND APHIS/PFERNANDEZ 
PARIS FOR GCARNER 
USEUCOM FOR ECJ4 
VIENNA PASS APHIS 
CAIRO PASS APHIS 
 
FROM THE U.S. MISSION TO THE UN AGENCIES IN ROME 
 
E.O.  12958:  N/A 
TAGS: KFLU EAGR EAID CASC SENV SOCI TBIO FAO WHO
SUBJECT:  AVIAN INFLUENZA:  WEEKLY UPDATE ON FAO ACTIVITIES 
#6 FOR THE WEEK ENDING MARCH 31, 2006 
 
REF: (A) 05 ROME 3949; (B) 05 ROME 3320; (C) 05 ROME 2979; 
 
(D) 05 ROME 1142; (E) 05 ROME 3976; (F) 06 ROME 0087; (G) 06 
ROME 0000 (sic); (H) 06 UN ROME 0315; (I) 06 UN ROME 0430; 
(J) 06 UN ROME 0464; (K) 06 UN ROME 0626; (L) UN ROME 0678; 
(M) 06 UN ROME 0766; (N) 06 UN ROME 0860 
¶1.  Summary:  On March 28, USMISSION UN ROME met with FAO 
Animal Production and Health (AGA) and Emergency Operations 
and Rehabilitation (TCE) Divisions staff to discuss 
Azerbaijan; global Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) 
expert needs; personal protective equipment (PPE) needs in 
the West Bank and Gaza; and Emergency Center for Trans- 
boundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) Socio-economic and Policy 
Working Group activities. FAO requested that: 
-- A determination of needs in Azerbaijan be postponed until 
after the April 12-13 FAO/OIE regional conference in Ankara; 
-- A recruitment specialist be posted to Rome for a 12-month 
detail to field multinational requests for rapid assessment 
and rapid response team experts, while an IT specialist be 
posted for a 3-month detail to help develop and merge the AI 
global early warning system databases with other global 
databases, and a crisis management center manager be 
detailed for a physical review and determination of 
operations center requirements; 
-- PPEs are needed in the West Bank while a culling expert 
will travel to Gaza after the Israeli elections this week; 
and 
-- the ECTAD Socio-economic and Policy Working Group is 
currently collaborating with WFP on sharing GIS data to 
improve knowledge of poultry keeping systems and poultry 
keepers.  End Summary 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
Azerbaijan Needs to be Determined After Ankara 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶2.  On Azerbaijan: 
 
--  FAO stated how difficult it has been to get the Azeris 
to admit they have an HPAI problem.  FAO reiterated concerns 
over the major lack of transparency on all fronts.  [Note: 
AGA staff noted their frustration with Uzbek authorities as 
well and the inability to obtain good quality information. 
A regional Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) meeting being held 
in Tashkent the week of March 24 should be able to garner 
more collaboration on this front as well. End Note] 
-- FAO also informed that the Tehran-based consultant who 
was scheduled to begin a 5-6-month-long TDY on March 28th 
has been facing difficulties in obtaining clearances for 
Azerbaijan.  FAO hopes the issue will be cleared up soon 
after celebrations for the Iranian New Year have ended. 
-- The Budapest-based FAO epidemiologist, Andrei Rostalnyy, 
returned to Baku on March 30th to continue with 
assessments.  USMISSION UN ROME passed Rostalnyy's contact 
details to USAID/Baku, which invited him to attend the 
Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) meeting held on March 
¶31.  DTRA is looking to strengthen disease surveillance in 
Azerbaijan and the meeting has been open to all partners, 
including the World Bank. 
-- When asked about needs in-country, FAO indicated there is 
much need for building up laboratory capacity.   Azerbaijan 
would greatly benefit in having an expert dedicate between 4- 
5 weeks of assistance to help get laboratory procedures 
underway. 
-- TCE reported on a March 28 meeting with representatives 
from the Azeri Mission in Rome.  The Azeri Mission was not 
fully certain of its government's plan but clearly stated 
the Government of Azerbaijan (GoA) is asking for help. 
Apparently, the Azeri representatives had heard that the GoA 
has circulated to donors in Baku a "shopping list" of items 
it believes it requires to combat HPAI.  The Mission 
requested that FAO help develop a project proposal based on 
FAO's initial assessment of needs.  Relating to the 
proposal, both AGA and TCE staff agreed it was too early to 
tell exactly what the country needs, but indicated a full 
package of assistance, including epidemiologists, 
virologists, lab technicians, equipment, and lab upgrades, 
would likely be required.  Assessments are still ongoing as 
are discussions with authorities on what they will be able 
to accept and how the GoA intends to use funds. (Note:  TCE 
briefly elaborated on the difficulty it already faced with 
the GoA, when, under its regional Budapest-based Technical 
Cooperation Program (TCP), FAO provided emergency funds, 
which the GoA wanted to use to purchase non-expendable 
goods. End Note).  FAO suggested the U.S. look to the 
FAO/OIE Regional Meeting being held in Ankara April 12-13 
for a clearer indication of needs, including experts, and 
when to send them.  FAO hopes that Azerbaijan's 
participation in this meeting will yield more collaboration 
and more transparency. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
Global and Rome-based Expertise 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶3. When asked to provide more details on what FAO needs in 
terms of experts worldwide, FAO stated that: 
 
A) For the rapid assessment and rapid response teams, an 
animal health recruitment specialist should be posted to 
Rome as soon as possible for a minimum 12-month assignment 
to help the Dutch consultant already on board to field 
country requests, which have been characterized as "coming 
out the woodwork."  With this help FAO can better decide on 
global needs.  USMISSION UN ROME asked if FAO could provide 
a matrix laying out expert needs for a more global view. 
AGA indicated it had developed a similar table on 56 
countries and would work to further develop it into a matrix 
of expert needs.  In general, FAO noted a global need for 
laboratory technicians/diagnosticians; 
 
B) A programmer/developer specialist for a 3-month 
assignment to help develop the Global Early Warning and 
Response System for Avian Influenza (GLEWS) database, 
marrying it with other existing databases-bases, such as 
FAO's Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS); 
and 
 
C) A Crisis Management Center manager to help determine 
infrastructure needs at post in an effort to facilitate the 
physical construction of the proposed operations center. 
(Note:  in preparation for a USDA/APHIS delegation's visit 
to Rome April 3-6 to discuss staffing and operations center 
needs, USMISSION UN ROME facilitated a teleconference 
between FAO and USDA/Washington on March 31, during which. 
FAO reiterated points A-C above.) 
 
¶4.  These three positions would support the Crisis 
Management Center, which was described in the March 17 
FAO/OIE draft paper.  Before filling these positions, 
particularly the manager of the Crisis Management Center, 
FAO hopes to have another consultation with the donors to 
whom that paper was circulated (U.S., EU, Netherlands, 
Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden, and 
Switzerland).  FAO emphasized the need for continued 
multilateral coordination on in support of the Crisis 
Management Center. 
 
¶5. TCE also noted that it is recruiting seven experts to be 
based out of Rome for use in rapid response teams: four 
epidemiologists, a laboratory diagnostician, a social 
economist (already on board), and a communications 
specialist.  On March 30, a TCE staff member and an FAO IT 
specialist traveled to Geneva to view the WHO situation room 
and to Bern to meet with Swiss authorities to discuss 
potential funding opportunities. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
PPE and Other Needs in the West Bank and Gaza 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶6. TCE stated that, worldwide, PPEs are under production, 
and that it had received an urgent request from the West 
Bank for PPEs.  A Tunis-based veterinary arrived on March 29 
to meet with the ex Israeli CVO working on AI activities. 
In addition, FAO has held discussions with authorities on 
compensation issues and sent draft guidelines in preparation 
for a national plan.  FAO is planning to send a consultant 
to Gaza after the Israeli elections to further assist in 
culling efforts as well. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
Socio-Economic Aspects of AI 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶7.  USMISSION UN ROME also met with the Emergency Center for 
Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) Socio-economic and 
Policy Working Group for a briefing.  FAO formed this 
multidisciplinary working group to promote a better 
understanding of the human dimension of the development 
challenges posed by AI.  The group is composed of 
economists, social anthropologists, epidemiologists, 
livestock production experts and policy specialists and 
undertakes a wide range of activities, including: estimating 
the economic costs, impacts and control of HPAI; modeling 
disease dynamics; identifying social and gender aspects of 
disease impact and control on livelihoods and food security; 
and developing rapid reconnaissance tools for socio-economic 
assessments and guidelines for policy support in areas such 
as compensation.  The group is currently collaborating with 
other UN agencies, including WFP on sharing GIS data to 
improve knowledge of poultry keeping systems and poultry 
keepers, and NGOs and IFAD on socio-economic assessments, 
livelihoods impact analysis and humanitarian preparedness 
preparation. 
 
¶8.  Of note, the group conducted a coping strategies case 
study for Vietnam in the aftermath of the December 2003 
outbreak. In conjunction with the Vietnam General Statistics 
Offices (GSO), 808 farms (industrial, commercial, small 
commercial and backyard) were interviewed.  Immediately 
after the AI outbreak, a decrease of food intake was found 
to be common among all categories, higher in larger farms 
but probably more dramatic in smaller farms.  Other 
important findings included that culling was mostly 
concentrated on larger farms (72 percent commercial and 85 
percent industrial); and that the capacity of farms to 
secure new loans to recover production was directly 
proportional to the farm size and corresponded to about half 
of the pre AI outbreak period.  Interestingly, studies also 
found that farmers who could afford it were apt to intensify 
or completely switch to other agricultural enterprises like 
pig raising. 
 
¶9.  USMISSION UN ROME will continue to disseminate widely 
FAO activities to combat and control Avian Influenza. 
 
Hall