A coordination of efforts among institutions and companies can prevent duplication of programs and create joint efforts among previously unlinked health sectors, a key element in battling a virus that is a threat to both humans and animals. Dr. Tjandra Yoga Aditama, a representative of the Indonesian Ministry of Health, says that "collaboration within and outside the health and veterinary sectors will be vital for fighting the avian flu problem."

Avian flu progresses quickly in humans, often killing patients within a matter of days. Governments around the world have placed massive orders for avian flu treatment courses but drugs such as Tami flu have yet to be tested in controlled clinical conditions on humans stricken with the virus. Preventing infected bird-to-bird contact remains the most reliable way of preventing the virus from mutating into a strain that can be passed from human to human. "

The boundaries between human and animal health care are clearly becoming very blurred," says Dr. David Reddy, Tamiflu Pandemic Task Force leader for Roche Pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Tracy DuVernoy, a veterinarian with Emergency Programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, says that addressing bio-security practices in Southeast Asian poultry farming is an area in which public and private sectors can potentially intervene. "Risk communication and community outreach is critical," she says, "particularly in traditional marketing and backyard farms."

International collaboration between the public and private sectors, says DuVernoy, can help to create country-specific programs for targeting bird flu, using various tools to adapt to different agricultural patterns. The millions of ducks and chickens that are raised in semi-commercials farms and in backyards across Southeast Asia before being transported to village markets provide a vital livelihood for countless people.

Unfortunately, says DuVernoy, these practices promote bird-to-bird transmission of the virus. "A poor in-country veterinary infrastructure results in a lack of prompt diagnosis and little routine surveillance of poultry farming."

DuVernoy suggested many potential low-cost project for public-private partnerships, including the installation of netting around small commercial farms to keep wild birds out and public education that will encourage villagers to institute mandatory cleaning days for the village markets where the birds are slaughtered.

USDA educational workshops are now being held in Vietnam and Indonesia to educate the public on safer poultry handling practices. Many NGOs are supplementing these efforts through the publication of avian-flu specific hygiene manuals. In each of these cases, government institutions provide infrastructure and a vested interest in maintaining the local economy while private global funding creates new and innovative means of combating a problem.

"Public aid is sometimes too narrowly defined and not quick enough to respond," says Peter Gourlay, a senior advisor for JHPIEGO, a global family health organization which has created public health initiatives to combat avian flu in Southeast Asia. "Public-private partnerships allow governments to receive funding for necessary initiatives with greater flexibility."

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