VZCZCXRO1056
RR RUEHCI
DE RUEHKA #0776/01 1300846
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 100846Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY DHAKA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4033
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 9899
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 9093
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 1656
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 7930
RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON 2547
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC//ISA/NESA
RUEKDIA/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC//J2/J5
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI//J2/J4/J5

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 000776 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO AIAG/HOLLIS SUMMERS, AIAG/TONY NEWTON AND 
AIAG/NICHOLAS STUDZINSKI 
DELHI PLEASE PASS TO FAS/OLIVER FLAKE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO KFLU PREL PGOV BG
SUBJECT:  BANGLADESH CROSSES 100,000 BIRDS CULLED, INFECTIONS 
CONTINUE TO SPREAD 
 
REF: (A) DHAKA 743, (B) DHAKA 730, (C) DHAKA 626, (D) DHAKA 608, AND 
PREVIOUS 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY. Publicly, the GOB is claiming the H5N1 outbreak 
"has remained under control of the government except in a few places 
of the country," but as Bangladesh crosses the 100,000 birds culled 
mark, with ten districts reporting H5N1 infections in poultry and 
new infections reported weekly, behind the scenes everyone agrees 
there is still much work to be done.  As per Bangladesh's National 
Response Plan, the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock is still in 
charge of the response; since no human cases have been reported, the 
lead has not switched to Ministry of Health.  GOB officials have met 
with representatives from the international donor community jointly 
and individually, and have agreed on a strategy to coordinate donor 
resources through committees focused on particular aspects of the 
outbreak response. END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) GOB/DONOR INTERACTION.  Ministry of Fisheries and 
Livestock Adviser C.S. Karim held a series of meetings on avian 
influenza recently with key stakeholders in the donor community, 
including the four-person response team from the UN Food and 
Agriculture Organization's Crisis Management Center (FAO CMC) on 
April 21, as well as with the larger donor community on April 22 and 
privately with USAID country director Roger Carlson April 26.  The 
PowerPoint presentation given by the Ministry on April 22 is 
available on Post's avian influenza intranet webpage, 
10.208.1.12/dhkavianinfluenza.htm, along with other information and 
resources. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) FAO CMC TEAM.  The FAO CMC team held meetings with GOB 
agencies, donor groups and NGOs, and toured infected sites during 
its two week visit 14 Q 27 April.  The team held an informal verbal 
out-briefing with embassy personnel and donor representatives; their 
formal report is expected to be released 14 May.  The mere presence 
of the team made a positive impact by starting a series of meetings 
and discussions which lead to in-person meetings between USAID 
Mission Director Carlson and other Emboffs and the Adviser for 
Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock as well as direct person to 
person contacts between Emboffs and Ministry officials at various 
levels to address specific issues. 
 
¶4. (SBU) GOB ACCEPTS COMMITTEE STRATEGY.  In the April 22 general 
and April 26 private meetings, Adviser Karim agreed to create 
focused committees to link up donors with Ministry staffers to 
address specific issues such as Personal Protective Equipment, 
Compensation, Epidemiology, Communication, and Laboratory Capacity. 
This strategy was proposed to assist the GOB in addressing internal 
communications challenges and streamlining donor response to key 
needs.  The Ministry had already formed its own compensation 
committee with poultry industry representatives, so these additional 
donor committees is not a huge departure for the organization but 
including the international donors is a positive step.  Initial 
meetings of the Personal Protective Equipment and of the Import 
Restrictions committees are tentatively set for mid-May. 
 
¶5. (SBU) COMPENSATION STILL UNDER DISCUSSION.  The Ministry of 
Fisheries and Livestock is still working to coordinate a 
comprehensive compensation policy with industry representatives.  To 
date, no compensation has been paid, although the media continues to 
report that poultry farmers will receive compensation for culled 
birds, will receive replacement birds, feed and medicines at no 
charge, and that commercial lenders have agreed to soften loan terms 
and issue new loans.  Econoff met with an industry representative on 
this committee during field visits to infected farms (reported ref 
A) who confirmed that discussions are underway on the compensation 
plan.  He feels that the poultry industry in Bangladesh is in 
serious economic trouble and some of the smaller operators will be 
unable to replace their culled stocks without government 
assistance. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) CURRENT USG ACTIVITIES.  USAID has begun to distribute 
Personal Protective Equipment kits from the second shipment, and 
will expand training to include district level Veterinary Officers 
May 14.  USAID has also brought in a consultant from USAIDQs 
regional office in Bangkok to work with the Bangladesh Livestock 
Research Institute laboratory staff and has already identified 
relatively inexpensive ways to improve lab performance in a short 
period of time.  Specifically, they established that adding a 
 
DHAKA 00000776  002 OF 002 
 
 
mini-gel electrophoresis unit would substantially boost the number 
of samples the lab can run per day. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) COMMENT.  Both the outbreak and Bangladesh's response 
continue to evolve.  The formation of specific committees to address 
focused issues will be a big step forward for donor coordination and 
moving toward practical steps that can be practically implemented. 
However, taking decisions made in Dhaka and converting them to 
rigorously implemented field actions will remain the biggest 
challenge, as econoff's recent visit to infected farms, reported ref 
A, shows.  In addition, how quickly basic laboratory capacity, 
reported ref B, can increase will be a practical limit on how much 
and how quickly Bangladesh can expand its response to the outbreak. 
 
BUTENIS