BANGKOK, Thailand: Southeast Asian nations should band together to fight bird flu by creating a single stockpile of drugs and vaccines that could be used to prevent the deadly virus from becoming a global pandemic, an official said Wednesday.

Health ministers from the region are expected to meet Thursday on the sidelines of an international health conference in Bangkok to discuss building a cache of drugs and vaccines to treat humans that can be tapped by any country in an emergency, said Thai Health Minister Dr. Suchai Charoenratanakul.