Bangladesh will receive US$ 2 million in grant from the World Bank's Avian and Human Influenza Facility (AHIF) to support the country's efforts to minimize the threat and risk of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).

An agreement between the Bangladesh government and the International Development Association (IDA), the soft-lending window of the World Bank, was signed in the capital, Dhaka on Monday.

M. Aminul Islam Bhuiyan, Secretary, Economic Relations Division and Xian Zhu, World Bank Country Director signed on behalf of the government and the World Bank, respectively, a press statement says in Dhaka on Monday.

The AHIF is a multi-donor grant-making mechanism, administered by the World Bank. On July 16, 2007, the AHIF awarded a $ 2.0 million grant to the Bangladesh government for the Avian Influenza Preparedness and Response Project. This was followed on July 26, 2007 by an IDA credit agreement worth US$16 million signed also with the government.

AHIF is supported by the European Commission and eight other donor countries that include the United Kingdom, Australia, the Russian Federation, China, the Republic of Korea, Iceland, Slovenia and Estonia, the statement adds.

The purpose of AHIF is to minimize the risk and socioeconomic impact of avian influenza and such other afflictions and of possible human pandemic influenza in developing countries lacking adequate domestic resources and capacity to prepare for and combat any onset of the disease.