Many farmers are slow to cull precious poultry, officials say

A World Health Organization expert said one urgent need was simply for money to prevent and prepare for a pandemic.

Experts fear bird flu may mutate into a form that can spread easily from human to human, triggering a global pandemic.

The disease has killed at least 76 people in East Asia since December 2003. Almost all had been in close contact with infected birds, and there has so far been no confirmed case of human-to-human transmission.

Four deaths in Turkey have heightened concern in the West.

Representatives from more than half the world's nations, plus health and finance officials, are in Beijing for the second international conference specifically convened to deal with bird flu.

A meeting in Geneva in November agreed a three-year plan for tacking the disease.

The World Bank has forecast the economic cost to the world's economy - during the first year of any pandemic - could reach $800bn.

Indonesia has already said it is struggling to pay compensation to farmers hit by a mandatory cull of poultry, and has asked for $500m (£283m) in aid.

'Simply money'

Delegates in Beijing are being asked to pledge funds totalling $1.2-1.4bn (£680-792m) to stop the disease at its source - in birds.

A WHO official told AP news agency he expected at least $1bn of that money would be pledged.

In response to the request, the EU raised its pledge to $120m, EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou said, quoted by AP.

A World Bank official said nearly half the money would be spent in Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Laos, countries where bird populations have been seriously hit by the virus.

We live on the same planet and our destinies are interconnected - in the fight versus avian influenza, no country can stay safe Qiao Zonghuai Chinese vice foreign minister

The conference received another boost with the decision by Swiss drug maker Roche Holding AG to produce enough of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu for an extra two million people.

There is already enough of the drug to treat three million people.

WHO spokesman Iain Simpson told the BBC the world could be closer to a pandemic now than for many years.

"One of the urgent things that's needed simply is money because without money it's not possible for countries to do the things that they need to do in order to prepare for the arrival of a pandemic and also in order to help to prevent that," he said.

Opening the conference, Chinese vice-foreign minister Qiao Zonghuai said ignoring the disease was not a realistic option.

"We live on the same planet and our destinies are interconnected," Mr Qiao said.

"In the fight versus avian influenza, no country can stay safe."

The conference is co-sponsored by China, the EU and the World Bank, which has already made $500m (£283m) available in loan funding.

Grassroots problems

The BBC's Louisa Lim in Beijing says that, as the pledges start to trickle in, everyone is aware that promises need to be converted into real action on the ground as soon as possible.

There have been warnings that if the money cannot be mobilised immediately, more will be needed in a matter of months.

Real problems still remain at grassroots level, our correspondent adds.

Many local farmers are sometimes unwilling to make changes to their practices and governments lack the capacity to carry out culling programmes and disseminate information effectively.