International health experts agreed a $1 billion programme on Wednesday to halt the spread of the deadly bird flu virus and avert a pandemic in which millions of people could die, Reuters reported. David Nabarro, the U.N.'s chief bird flu coordinator, said the international community was much better placed to handle the threat from bird flu after the three-day meeting. "What is important to me is there has been consensus and clarity, much better coordination. We'll be much quicker to control avian influenza as a result," Nabarro told reporters after a meeting hosted by the World Health Organisation. "If the pandemic starts, there's a pretty good chance it will be smaller as a result of the work we've done in the past three days than it would have been otherwise," he said. H5N1 bird flu has killed more than 60 people and led to 150 million birds being culled in Asia where it is endemic in many poultry flocks. It has now spread to birds in Russia, Romania, Turkey and Croatia and experts fear Africa may be next. Although it remains hard for humans to catch, scientists say that, like all influenza viruses, H5N1 is steadily mutating and could acquire the genetic changes that make it easy to pass among humans, which could spark a pandemic killing millions. --More 2119 Local Time 1819 GMT
