The World Bank Group on Wednesday approved a six million US dollars grant to support Cambodia's efforts to implement a national plan to minimize the threats from avian and human influenza, and to prepare its health systems to respond to any possible outbreak in the future.

The grant, provided by the International Development Association (IDA), will be used to finance the Avian and Human Influenza Control and Preparedness Emergency Project (AHICPEP), a press release said.

Designed in support of Cambodia's Comprehensive Avian and Human Influenza (AHI) National Plan, this project aims to help the government contain the spread of the H5N1 virus, reduce livelihood losses among commercial and backyard poultry growers, limit damage to the poultry industry, diminish the viral load in the environment and prevent or limit human morbidity as well as mortality, it added.

In addition to the IDA grant, the Government of Japan has provided a three million US dollars grant from its Policy and Human Resources Development (PHRD) Fund. A grant of two million US dollars was approved by the Avian and Human Influenza (AHI) Facility, a multidonor grant-making mechanism supported by the European Commission and eight other donors, it said.

Both grants will co-finance AHICPEP, the press release said, adding that the PHRD Fund and AHI Facility are both administered by the World Bank.

The combined 11 million US.dollars project will be implemented by units within the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ministry of Health, and the National Committee for Disaster Management of Cambodia.

(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2008)