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UN Agency Warns of Lack of Funding for Bird Flu Measures


The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is warning the global fight against bird flu remains underfunded.

FAO officials say some nations have made essential contributions, but tens of millions of dollars more than the nearly $20 million already given is urgently needed to prevent the spread of the virus.

Australia Monday says it will donate an additional 40,000 courses of the anti-viral medication Tamiflu to Indonesia.

Australia's foreign minister Alexander Downer said Indonesian authorities had been somewhat unprepared for the spread of bird flu, but they are getting better organized.

Meanwhile, doctors in Jakarta today said initial tests suggest a 27-year-old Indonesian woman has died of bird flu.

Bird flu has killed more than 60 people in Southeast Asia since 2003.

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.

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