Red Cross/Red Crescent Avian Influenza Prevention Programme
In February 2006, the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) and Red Crescent Societies launched an initiative to prevent the spread of avian influenza (AI) in Nigeria. In response to the confirmation of an AI outbreak in poultry, this programme sought to assist the Nigeria Red Cross Society in further assessing the situation, especially with regard to the risks to human health, and to plan an effective response that is sensitive to the fact that chicken remain the main source of income and food in Nigeria. Key goals included ensuring local community involvement in sharing avian flu prevention information, preparing the community to face food security crisis which may also affect their livelihood, and increasing surveillance and mobilisation for the eradication of the pandemic.
Communication Strategies
Interpersonal communication and collaboration have been key to this volunteer-based effort. To develop an emergency strategy, a health delegate was deployed to the Federation Regional Office in Lagos, which then travelled to Abuja to provide technical support for the actions of the Nigeria Red Cross Society. In addition to zonal health officers with more than 24 health coordinators in different states, the Nigeria Red Cross Society has a community-based health care programme that includes more than 300 mothers' clubs working with a pool of about 9,000 volunteers who have participated in various sensitisation and mobilisation campaigns. This backdrop explains the focus on local community involvement in sharing information, and mobilising action, to halt the spread of AI among poultry - as well as to prevent its migration to the human population.
Partnership was a key means for assessing the epidemiological situation, for working toward a regional strategy, and for communicating about developments and activities in the field. Specifically, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MOH), World Health Organization (WHO), and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the Nigeria Red Cross society developed and carried out a response that included:
- training Red Cross volunteers in community social mobilisation and health education to prevent human infection and to collaborate with others in controlling the outbreak
- deploying these trained volunteers in affected communities to conduct community mobilisation and sensitisation at the household level
- creating and distributing information materials to farmers and the mass population, in an effort to inform them of the danger of AI, its mode of contamination, and how to prevent its spread.
Key Points
Bird flu was officially declared on February 8 2006 in Nigeria, with identified cases of the highly pathogenic AI virus H5N1 in poultry in the village of Jaji located in the Northern State of Kaduna. That same day, the Nigerian Minister of Agriculture announced that all suspected birds nationwide would be killed and buried in order to contain the outbreak. The fear of a geographical spread to other West African countries led most neighbouring countries to take strenuous measures to ban all poultry importations from Nigeria. As of this writing, no human case has been reported.
Partners
World Health Organization
Placed on the Communication Initiative site April 24 2006
Last Updated July 02 2008
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