RIYADH, 12 November 2005 — The Kingdom’s capital city will host an international bird flu conference on Nov. 21-22 at the direction of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.
Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Rabea, executive director of Health Affairs at the National Guard, stressed on the importance of hosting this conference at a time when the international community is on high alert for any bird flu outbreak and working hard to control the spread of the deadly disease.
Al-Rabea said more than 300 doctors and specialists will attend the conference, which will be held in association with the ministries of health, agriculture and Haj.
He said representatives from other Gulf countries were invited to propose precautionary measures to prevent the entry of the disease into the Kingdom during the pilgrimage season. People from 140 countries, including some that have had bird flu outbreaks, will come for the Haj in early January.
Conference participants will discuss ways and means of stopping the virus from entering into the Kingdom and formulate the steps the government needs to take to confront the situation.
The government already has taken a number of preventive measures against any outbreak of bird flu in the Kingdom.
Saad Al-Shihri, the director of the Agricultural Department in Makkah, said his department has been strictly monitoring more than 120 poultry farms in various parts of the country. He said the rate of deaths among birds in Saudi farms so far remained at normal level.
