West Africa: 12 nations band together to fight off H5N1 threat

Twelve West African nations on Thursday pledged to work together to fight the deadly H5N1 virus and called on the international community to back a joint emergency fund dedicated to the battle against bird flu. In a statement issued after two days of talks in the Senegalese capital, the group of nations - two of them bordering Nigeria, the only bird-flu-hit country in Africa to date - agreed on “the need for a concerted and coordinated approach in setting up national campaigns” against the virus.