Anti-polio drive enters final phase<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government will launch the third and last
\nround of a massive anti-polio immunization campaign next week to
\ngive the final boost to make Indonesia completely free from polio
\nby the year 2000.<\/p>\n
Inoculations will be conducted on nearly 22 million children
\non Sep. 2 and Oct. 7, Minister of Health Sujudi said yesterday.<\/p>\n
In the first two rounds in 1995 and 1996, the government did
\nnot miss a single child under five years old, Sujudi said.<\/p>\n
This time around, the government hoped for no less, counting
\non the support and cooperation of everyone, including the mass
\nmedia, Sujudi said briefing the media at the Ministry of
\nInformation about the upcoming campaign.<\/p>\n
He said a public information commercial on television on the
\nimmunization drive, starring Rano Karno and Mandra, was
\nparticularly effective in encouraging parents to bring their
\ntoddlers to the vaccination posts on the set dates.<\/p>\n
\"If they can't come to the posts, we will send our people to
\ntheir homes,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The central government allocated Rp 63.2 billion (US$21
\nmillion) in its 1997\/98 budget for the anti-polio drive. This
\nbudget was supplemented by funds from regional administrations,
\nforeign aid and the private sector, he said.<\/p>\n
Sujudi said that during the upcoming campaign, children born
\nafter April 1 this year would also be administered the hepatitis
\nB vaccine.<\/p>\n
This would also be free of charge, he said, underlying
\nIndonesia's ability to produce the vaccines.<\/p>\n
Without the immunization drive, between 400,000 and 500,000 of
\n4.6 million babies born in Indonesia this year would be infected
\nby hepatitis B by the time they reached the age of 15, Sujudi
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The government hoped to free Indonesia from hepatitis B by
\n2013, he said, noting that Indonesia was the first country in the
\nworld to launch a nationwide anti-hepatitis B drive. (09)<\/p>",
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