A round table meeting bringing together government ministries,
United Nations (UN) agencies, civil society and other stakeholders
in Egypt and chaired by IOM will take place on 30 April in Cairo to
fine tune Avian flu preparedness activities targeting migrants.

IOM has already begun to implement a three-year programme in
Egypt similar to one in Cambodia and Vietnam supported by the
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through
a fund managed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
in collaboration with the UN System and Partners' Avian and Human
Influenza Consolidated Action Plan.

In Egypt, the project is primarily focused on avian influenza
preparedness and response for urban Sudanese migrants in the Cairo
governorate. With the possibility of Sudanese migrants returning to
a post-conflict South Sudan, it is important they are informed
about avian flu and measures to prevent an outbreak in case they go
back home.

A baseline survey will be conducted to profile the migrants and
to determine knowledge of the virus and the practices and beliefs
of this group. Information collected will be used for adapting
existing materials to prepare communities against avian flu and for
a training manual for community workers in a bid to strengthen
community efforts and capacity to deal with an outbreak.

The programme also aims to ensure the social well-being of
migrants and receiving communities in the event of an outbreak.

Egypt has the highest rates of infection and deaths from avian
flu outside of Asia with 49 confirmed cases, 22 of which have been
fatal. The latest case was of a woman regularly in contact with
sick or dead poultry who died in mid-April.

Avian flu has mostly hit rural areas in Egypt so far and
although birds are not supposed to be raised in urban areas, people
often do keep birds, mainly on rooftops.

For more information, please contact:

Anita Alero Davies

IOM Geneva

Tel. +41 22 717 9502

E-mail: "mailto:adavies@iom.int">adavies@iom.int