Avian flu may affect the supply of chicken in South America, according to PAHO

The director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)Jarbas Barbosa, warned this Wednesday that the avian flu that plagues all South America it may affect the supply of chicken meat, the main source of animal protein in the region, which would impact the diet of thousands of people.

“The pandemic of the covid-19 increased food insecurity and extreme poverty in South America, and we are concerned that now the avian flu will create a problem with the production of chicken in the region, which is one of the most accessible animal proteins”Barbosa, who is visiting Chile, told EFE.

The director of PAHO, the American arm of the World Health Organization (WHO), stressed that outbreaks of avian influenza have been detected in practically all the countries in the south of the continent and that, although it is a virus that is not transmitted between people, governments must maintain a “good surveillance” of the problem.

“The risk now is that a person will contract the virus from influenza avian being also infected by human influenza, because there may be a genetic exchange between both viruses and that they mutate into a new disease that is transmitted between people”he warned.

Avian influenza has spread in recent months from north to south throughout the Latin American continent and, although it mainly affects wild birds and marine mammals, several poultry farms have had to euthanize their birds due to outbreaks at their facilities. .

Meeting with Boric

Barbosa, who became PAHO director in February, visited Chile this week to meet with the country’s authorities, including President Gabriel Boric, and share views on current health challenges, such as vaccination campaigns or the deployment of primary health services.

One of the issues that Barbosa discussed with the Chilean president was the deployment of the primary health care system, which the Government of Chile has begun to implement as a pilot project in seven communes and which it intends to later expand to the rest of the country.

For Barbosa, establishing a primary care system should be a “priority” at this moment, since, according to him, it serves to have a health system “more resilient” that “can respond to all health problems”to communicable diseases, such as HIV, or non-communicable diseases, such as mental health.

“Primary health care is the closest to the community. (…) It can help people to have a healthier life, and at the same time be a gateway for more complex services, making more rational use of the resources we have, which are always limited”held.

Founded in 1902, PAHO is the American branch of the World Health Organization (WHO), in charge of advising the Governments and health institutions of its 35 member countries, although it also brings together another 4 associated States, 3 participants and 2 observers (Spain and Portugal).

Source: EFE