Bird flu remains a threat despite decrease in cases<\/p>\n
Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Cases of poultry deaths due to the avian influenza outbreak have
\ndecreased, but the threat may not end until later this year, an
\nofficial says.<\/p>\n
Ministry of Agriculture's Secretary General Memet Gunawan said
\non Tuesday that \"just because the bird flu cases have decreased,
\nit doesn't mean that we will stop taking measures to prevent the
\noutbreak from spreading.\"<\/p>\n
Data from the Ministry of Agriculture's Directorate General of
\nLivestock Services report that the total number of poultry deaths
\nin January and February this year was around 1.5 million. Of this
\nnumber, 400,000 were due to a selective cull.<\/p>\n
The data also showed that the death toll from September to
\nDecember 2003 reached 4.7 million.<\/p>\n
This means that the death toll has now decreased by 54 percent
\nto 550,000 per month from 1.2 million per month in the 2003
\nperiod.<\/p>\n
The data also recorded that the outbreak has spread to 80
\ndistricts in 11 provinces throughout the country -- Banten,
\nJakarta, West, Central and East Java, Yogyakarta, Bali, Lampung,
\nCentral, South and West Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
In an effort to control the outbreak, the government has
\ncooperated with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to
\nestablish a Technical Cooperation Program (TCP), under which
\nIndonesia receives a US$390,000 grant.<\/p>\n
The grant comes in many forms, including supplies of
\nmaterials, such as masks and gloves, laboratory and farm
\nequipment and computers, as well as transportation fees for
\nexperts.<\/p>\n
FAO Representative in Indonesia Tsukasa Kimoto was optimistic
\nthat the grant would help Indonesia curb the outbreak within the
\nnext six months.<\/p>\n
\"We're hoping to control the disease within six months (with)
\nthe emergency assistance,\" Kimoto told the media.<\/p>\n
He added that there would be a meeting later to discuss the
\npossibility of getting more aid money from other countries such
\nas the Netherlands, the United States, Australia, Japan, Germany
\nand the European Union.<\/p>\n
\"(The planned meeting) has not been finalized...however,
\nthere's some indication that the amount (of the assistance) will
\nprobably be around US$ 2 million,\" he said.<\/p>\n
As another measure to control the outbreak, the government
\nalso provides vaccines made by three local producers: Center for
\nBiological Products (Pusvetma) in Surabaya, PT Vaksindo Satwa
\nNusantara in Bogor, West Java, and PT Medion in Bandung.<\/p>\n
Ministry of Agriculture's Director General of Livestocks
\nServices Sofyan Sudrajat said that the government had distributed
\nfive million doses of the local vaccine to 10 provinces at no
\ncost.<\/p>\n
However, considering that 120 million doses per month had to
\nbe available during the next six months, and that the local
\nproducers did not have the capacity to meet the requirement, the
\ngovernment allowed last month the importation of vaccines for
\nbird flu, also known as avian influenza, from China and appointed
\nstate-owned pharmaceutical firm PT Biofarma as the importer.<\/p>\n
Sofyan said that the vaccines had already been tested and
\nproven safe by the Directorate General of Livestock Services.<\/p>\n
\"They have been released and are ready to be put on the
\nmarket,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The government has allocated Rp 215 billion (US$25.6 million)
\nin compensation for small farmers whose poultry has been
\ndestroyed as part of a mass-culling program.<\/p>\n
However, none of that amount has been distributed to the
\nfarmers yet as the government \"is still in the process of
\ndetermining who is going to receive the money and how much they
\nwill receive.\"<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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