Less than 300 mln dollar spent on bird flu - World Bank

WASHINGTON, June 5 (Reuters) Just 286 million dollar has been spent to fight bird flu out of nearly 1.9 billion dollar pledged last January by nations and organizations that said they wanted to make a ''massive effort'' against the virus, according to a World Bank report.

Only Japan, Switzerland and the Czech Republic have fully spent the money promised at a meeting of big donors in Beijing last January, according to the report, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

Africa in particular needs more money, the report said.

''Japan has fully committed its pledge in Beijing of 158 million dollar to a range of countries and organizations at the regional and global level,'' the report reads. Switzerland pledged and has spent 4.7 million dollar while the Czech Republic promised and has spent 200,000 dollar.

The report, prepared for a meeting of senior officials in Vienna on June 7, also singles out the United States, which pledged and committed 334 million dollar, but which has spent 70.95 million dollar . Of 500 million dollar in loans promised by the World Bank, just 113 million dollar has been committed and only 1.97 million dollar sent out.

Since that meeting in January, the H5N1 avian influenza virus has spread out of Asia, across Europe and into Africa. It has not always affected commercial poultry but has killed or forced the culling of tens of millions of more birds.

In January, the virus had killed 79 people, all of them in Asia. Now it has infected at least 224 people in 10 countries, and killed 127 of them, according to the World Health Organization.

Experts fear it could mutate at any time into a strain that could pass easily from one person to another, sparking a pandemic that would travel around the globe in weeks or months.

VIGOROUS PREVENTION '' ... We agree to take vigorous prevention, mitigation, emergency preparedness and rapid response measures...,'' the donors said in their pledge in January.

The money is supposed be used to upgrade veterinary systems, launch vaccination drives and help educate people about hygienic ways to raise animals.

The new report is based on a survey the World Bank conducted of the donors. ''Among the highlights, the five largest donors (those pledging over 100 million dollar) have reported significant progress,'' it reads.

The European Commission is the largest single donor, with 178 million dollar pledged but none yet disbursed.

''The United States has fully committed its pledge of 4 million announced in Beijing and is active in providing services and grants to a wide range of countries and other recipients,'' the report reads.

''The Asian Development Bank has committed 80 million dollar, with a significant pipeline of operations underway for national or regional projects in Asia.'' Some 113.1 million dollar in financing has been approved for projects in Azerbaijan, Kyrgyz Republic, Nigeria, Turkey and Vietnam, the World Bank said.

''The top recipients of committed support include Vietnam (66 million dollar), Indonesia (55 million dollar), Nigeria (51 million dollar), Turkey (46 million dollar), and Cambodia (23 million dollar),'' the report reads.

''There are a number of areas where more donor focus is needed, and additional pledges may also be sought, including for Africa, where both country-level operations and regional initiatives sponsored by OIE (the international animal health agency), FAO (the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization), and WHO as well as African institutions will require significant grant funding,'' the report adds.

''The international community should continue a coordinated effort to mobilize grant support for efforts to tackle avian influenza and the pandemic threat in low income countries.'' Reuters PDS VP0425