Govt ignores polio in remote provinces<\/p>\n
Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Despite the success of the recent third round of polio
\nvaccinations, the government has shown little commitment to
\nboosting low vaccination rates in the remote provinces of Papua,
\nWest Irian and North Maluku.<\/p>\n
\"We actually want to vaccinate all the children in those
\nareas, but they are difficult to reach ... In my personal
\nopinion, I don't think polio exists there anyway,\" Minister of
\nHealth Siti Fadilah Supari said late last week after delivering
\nthe third polio vaccination report.<\/p>\n
Siti said she was optimistic the areas were disease free
\nbecause she had received no reports of polio there.<\/p>\n
\"It just so happens, that there are no polio patients in
\nPapua, nor Yahukimo regency, which recently reported famine
\ncases. Children are running around healthily there,\" she said.<\/p>\n
According to Ministry of Health data, there were 295 cases of
\npolio from April to December in 10 of the country's 33 provinces
\n-- Banten with 161 cases, West Java (59), Lampung (25), Central
\nJava (20), North Sumatra (10), South Sumatra (5), East Java (5),
\nJakarta (4), Aceh (3) and Riau (3).<\/p>\n
During the last vaccination program in November, these 10
\nprovinces are estimated to have vaccinated between 90 percent and
\n100 percent of at-risk children.<\/p>\n
However, the ministry report said North Maluku could only
\nvaccinate 86.4 percent of its 84,190 targeted children, with West
\nIrian at 73.8 percent of 64,594 recorded children and Papua a
\nmere 50.3 percent of 143,918 children.<\/p>\n
Siti said it would be difficult for the polio virus to spread
\nto these remote provinces because they were extremely difficult
\nto reach.<\/p>\n
\"It is less likely that the polio virus would arrive there.
\nPeople have to struggle to the death to reach these areas. Even a
\nhelicopter cannot take us to some of the remote villages in these
\nprovinces,\" she said.<\/p>\n
If the government wanted to boost the vaccination rates in
\nthese areas, Siti said the polio eradication team would need its
\ntransportation budget increased. The government, in line with a
\nrecommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO), plans to
\nlaunch two additional nationwide polio vaccination programs in
\nJanuary and February next year in a bid to eradicate the
\ncrippling disease by March 2006.<\/p>\n
\"To hire a plane with six passengers for a trip to remote
\nareas in Papua will cost you Rp 30 million,\" Siti said.<\/p>\n
WHO Indonesia country representative Georg Peterson said while
\npolio had not yet been found in many provinces, this should not
\nbe a reason to leave children under five unvaccinated.<\/p>\n
\"For remote areas, the routine vaccinations of newborn babies
\nshould be strengthened,\" he told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the Indonesian Health Consumer Empowerment
\nFoundation, Marius Widjajarta, dismissed Siti's argument, saying
\nthat the virus could travel anywhere, even to the most remote
\nareas on the planet.<\/p>\n
\"The Constitution says that it is our citizens' right,
\nincluding the Moluccans' and Papuans' right, to live a healthy
\nlife. Therefore, the government will have to work hard to at
\nleast vaccinate 90 percent of the children there,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The country's latest polio outbreak came after it was free of
\nthe disease for about 10 years. Some health experts believe the
\nvirus spread to Indonesia from northern Nigeria, a country that
\nstill has polio.<\/p>\n
To achieve the 90-percent vaccination target, Marius urged the
\ngovernment to enable staff at community health centers
\n(Puskesmas), integrated health service posts (Posyandu) and new
\ngraduates of medicine schools to support vaccination drives in
\nthe three provinces.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-ignores-polio-in-remote-provinces-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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