CARE Egypt presents on behalf of CARE International & NGOs at the 6th International Ministerial AHI conference in Sharm El-Sheikh

Governement ministries and donors recently convened at the Sixth International Ministerial Conference on Avian and Pandemic Influenza in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. This annual conference is held to review progress and pledgede future funding and action. This year, the conferences aims were stated as:

"1. Encouraging urgent and continued relevant actions by governments, international and regional organizations, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector to build long-term capacity to confront the spread of avian influenza and to prepare for a potential human pandemic.
2. Introducing and examining medium-term strategies for control of avian and pandemic influenza and, more broadly, on emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases at the animal-human ecosystem interface and considering options for their implementation, and
3. Reviewing the use of international funding for HPAI control and pandemic preparedness during 2007-8, and assessing the needs for additional resources in 2009. Countries and donors will have the opportunity to pledge additional funds for support to nations as they seek to confront avian influenza and prepare for a pandemic." (http://www.imcapi2008.gov.eg/Contents/PressInfo.aspx?Tab=10)

CARE was invited by UNICEF to present on Challenges and Promising Practices in Communication: Facilitating Community Action to Prevent Avian Influenza

Dr. Zeinab Heada from CARE Egypt did a fantastic job of delivering the key messages from CARE's experience about the role of NGOs. Dr Zeinab shared experiences from CARE's work in Southeast Asia, noting the importance of community participation, gender and poverty as key factors in our forming our approach. Dr Zeinab spoke on 4 key factors in effective communications and community programs for AI:

1. Targeting resources
2. Participation
3. Hollistic technical support to communities
4. Using a lens of gender and poverty

Lora Wuennenberg, Country Director of CARE Egypt reported,

"It was especially refreshing to be able to talk about real situations of people in the midst of many theoretical presentations. One of the co-presenters from Thailand from our session on community mobilization and communication, also recognized CARE as a key partners for community outreach in Thailand."

Great job CARE Egypt!