World pledges $1.9 billion to fight bird flu
International donors have pledged $1.9 billion to support a global fund to combat bird flu, EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said on Wednesday after a conference in Beijing, exceeding an initial target.
The World Bank had hoped the donors' conference would raise at least $1.2 billion.
The United States responded with a pledge of about $334 million, saying in a statement the money would be mainly in the form of grants and technical assistance. The total EU pledge is nearly $250 million.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. The Bank itself has estimated that a pandemic lasting a year could cost the global economy up to $800 billion. Across the globe, millions could die if the H5N1 avian flu virus mutates just enough to pass easily among people. Economies would be crippled for weeks or months.
"The amount asked for is small compared to the cost of a pandemic we are not ready for," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the conference in a video address.
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