OIE Regional Seminar on Communication Muscat Oman 20 & 21 April 2010

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1 Muscat Oman 20 & 21 April 2010

2 Outline AI scare in Lebanon, Oct Apr AI scare in Egypt, Oct Feb AI outbreak and epidemic in Egypt since Feb Lessons learnt. Communication practices. Tanmia community awareness.

3 AI Scare in Lebanon AI outbreak in Turkey Oct Lebanon remained free up till now. Media created the scare. TV and Radio successive and intensive transmission of shots and news (only a handful died in Turkey). ill-informed medical and veterinary doctors exaggerated commentsand concentrated on a possible pandemic. Government officials distanced themselves from comments and commitments. Private sector counter defense on media had little effect on alleviating fears.

4 AI scare in Lebanon (Cont.) No table eggs were dumped, but sold at % of their cost for six months. Government compensated table egg producers in Mar. 2006with nearly 50 % of their losses. Government refused to compensate broiler producers on the grounds that poultry meat can be frozen and stored. Broiler meat was sold at % of its cost to retailers and wholesalers for six months. Tanmia decided to freeze all poultry meat that cannot be sold at cost. This amounted to 90 days production.

5 AI scare in Egypt Media created the scare same as Lebanon. Table eggs sales and prices were not affected. Broiler sales plummeted and prices dropped to % of cost. Farmers, almost all independent, reduced their broiler chick placements even at 10 % of the chick normal cost. Wadi Poultry resorted to: a) Sell all parents over 50 weeks of age even at low prices. b) Molt most of the parent flocks over 35 weeks of age. c) Absorb losses as a result.

6 AI Outbreak / Epidemic in Egypt Before the wake-up from the AI scare, Egypt faced an HPAI outbreak in mid Feb The outbreak, in the absence of vaccination and sufficient Biosecurity, resulted in severe and painful losses. The disease swept the whole country within 3 weeks. Human fatalities triggered the government to crack down on stamping out irresponsibly. Compensation was limited to $30 million, 25 % of which came from the poultry industry union. Vaccination helped check the spread. However outbreaks are repetitive every year during late fall /early winter months as a result of the change in the sequencing status of the virus. Wadi Poultry followed similar measures to those during the scare crisisalongsideimproving and tightening the Biosecurity measures.

7 Lessons Learnt Lack of sufficient knowledge of AI virus and its behavior resulted in undesirable decisions or recommendationsat all levels. Lack of appropriate Biosecurity measures and reluctance to enforce them kept the disease in Egypt persisting. Lack of compensation or insufficient compensation defeated the stamping out policies and stopped them. Media cannot be controlled. Bad news have priority. Private sector attempts to address the consumers were ineffective. Consumers returned to normal consumption in Lebanon and Egypt when they did not experience any sign of the fears propagated.

8 Communication Practices In Lebanon, and in the absence of any industry or government collaborated efforts, Tanmia has solely conducted certain communicationattempts addressed to the consumers. Tanmia s top management in Lebanon held meetings with officials, written several articles, appeared on TV popular shows and conducted seminars in various cities, towns and villages. Wadi top management in Egypt were very instrumental in meetings with officials and industry leaders advising on best means of approaching the AI crisis. Communication attempts in Lebanon and Egypt directed to the consumer did not widely cover consumers neither were they highly effective. The most effective element in regaining consumer confidence was lack of true harm as pictured by media and ill-informed experts.

9 Tanmia Community Awareness Tanmia steps towards community awareness on Avian Influenza were through many presentations such as: Tanmia Strategic Presentation on BIRD FLU, dated Jan. 23, Avian Influenza & Biosecurity, dated Feb. 1-4, Arabic study مكافحة ا نفلونزا الطيور و تطوير قطاع الدواجن في مصر dated Feb. 17, Leaflet, Full Transparency on Bird Flu. Clarification letter about the bird influenza from Tanmia, dated Oct. 12, Note: you may have copy of these presentations upon request.

10 Tanmia Strategic Presentation BIRD FLU January 23, 2006 SAATCHI & SAATCHI

11 Avian Influenza & Biosecurity Cairo-Feb.1&4,2006

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16 Thank you