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The jury is still out.
No one knows whether the increasingly threatening bird flu will ultimately hit humans in China in the wake of three major eruptions among poultry in the country within a month.
But we must make the best preparations for the worst case scenario.
This week, the governments of both China and the United States took new precautions to prevent avian flu from spreading and passing to humans. While US President George W. Bush asked for approval of a special US$7.1 billion cash input plan, China has earmarked 2 billion yuan (US$247.5 million) for pandemic control.
The cash input should put into action calls by world leaders for updated global measures against the flu. The establishment of preventative networks and research and development of vaccines and antiviral drugs will not be cheat.
Lack of funding could put the brakes on global anti-flu efforts. Some Southeast Asian countries have become bogged down in the fight against the lethal flu due to a shortage of cash.
As a result, the World Health Organization and other institutions are pooling funds to help financially weak regions.
China's US$247.5 million special fund does not seem a large sum, of course, when it is put in comparison with the affluent developed world. But for a developing country like China, it is a great sum from a tight national budget. And in a country where both labor and material costs are much lower, this amount can make a huge difference.
It is a sign the nation is justifiably attaching more importance to the issue. If preventative work fails and humans are infected, costs could be much heavier than what is now being invested.
The input equals the total investment in taming the 2003 SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) crisis. It is no overhyped reaction. We are not going to taste the bitter lessons of that crisis again.
The urgent task now is to carefully earmark funding so it is distributed efficiently to meet different needs. A national strategy, which clearly defines the importance of different preventative programmes and the amount of funds they each need, is a must.
Transparency also needs to be ensured to track the use of funds and promote their efficiency.
While the funding issue tops the agenda of many governments, international co-operation also needs to be furthered.
Bilateral and small-scale multilateral talks on co-operation are under way. But the globe is far from being well coordinated in its fight against the global spread of avian flu.
Agricultural officials and experts from China and the United States have discussed bilateral co-operation. Thailand and Viet Nam, countries so far most affected by the flu, have agreed to join hands in fighting the epidemic. Representatives of Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos attended a recent relevant conference.
But despite calls and promises, we are yet to see a mechanism for closer co-ordination among different continents as well as between China and its neighbors.
As with SARS, avian flu respects no borders. Close global co-operation in 2003 was a precondition for success in bringing that epidemic under effective control.
While focusing on domestic precautions and control of the disease, all countries need to draw closer in order to tame the dangerous flu.
(China Daily November 4, 2005)
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