JP\/4\/Flu<\/p>\n
UN urges RI to anticipate bird flu pandemic<\/p>\n
Tb. Arie Rukmantara
\nThe Jakarta Post\/ Jakarta<\/p>\n
The United Nations (UN) urged Indonesia on Monday to prepare a
\ncontingency plan for the possibility of the avian influenza
\nturning into a global pandemic, a senior UN official said.<\/p>\n
UN systems senior coordinator for avian and human influenza
\nDavid Nabarro said a pandemic of the H5N1 bird flu strain could
\noccur at any time and any place and therefore urged the
\nIndonesian government to start developing a plan for such an
\neventuality.<\/p>\n
\"It will happen at some point. Act as though a pandemic will
\nstart tomorrow. Don't assume we can wait around and not worry
\nthat it won't start in the next six months or one year. If we do,
\nonce it starts it will be too late to prepare and we will all
\nwill be in crisis,\" he said at a workshop on avian influenza
\npandemic contingency plans held at the Office of the Coordinating
\nMinister for People's Welfare on Monday.<\/p>\n
He warned that should there be a pandemic, it would threaten
\nhalf the world's population as no medication would be able to
\nstem the tide of illness.<\/p>\n
\"At that stage, the virus may be resistant to Tamiflu, so we
\ncan't rely on Tamiflu,\" he said, referring to the drug currently
\ngiven to bird flu patients.<\/p>\n
The highly pathogenic H5N1 strain remains a virus essentially
\nin birds. However, scientists fear that it could mutate into a
\nform that could pass easily from human to human.<\/p>\n
The government said that as of July, the country was in phase
\nthree of the six phases of a flu pandemic, meaning there was the
\npossibility of facing a new subtype of the virus.<\/p>\n
There have been bird flu breakouts in Indonesia, Cambodia,
\nChina, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam since August 2003. To date,
\nthere have been nine confirmed bird flu deaths in Indonesia and
\nmore than 10 million poultry killed.<\/p>\n
Nabarro stressed the danger of a poor response to the
\npossibility of an outbreak and pointed out that the 1918 Spanish
\nflu was caused by the H1N1 subtype virus and killed 40 million
\npeople across the globe.<\/p>\n
\"To cope with such a threat, we should prevent, prepare and
\nrespond,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie
\nsaid that the government had formulated a plan to control avian
\ninfluenza and to cope with a possible flu pandemic.<\/p>\n
\"Among other things, in the near future we will set up an
\nintegrated and autonomous organization to do tangible work to
\nprevent and cope with any flu pandemic,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The \"National Strategic Plan to Control Avian Influenza and
\nPreparedness to Face a Influenza Pandemic, 2006-2008\" proposal
\nsays the government will introduce more than a dozen strategies
\nto control the bird flu, including organizing mass culls and
\npoultry vaccinations as well as increasing the stockpile of
\nantiviral drugs and organizing research on bird flu vaccines.<\/p>\n
Should a pandemic occur, the government proposal says it will
\nisolate areas in which 80 percent of the population is infected
\nand will mobilize manpower, including soldiers and police
\nofficers, to help limit the pandemic spread.<\/p>\n
However, Aburizal said he did not know how much money would be
\nneeded to finance the implementation of the plan.<\/p>\n
\"All we have at present is US$150 million, which was agreed
\nupon during the last WHO meeting in Geneva, and the government
\nwill add another $10 to $20 million,\" he said, adding that
\ninternational aid would be needed to support the government's
\ndrive.<\/p>\n
Deputy to the State Minister of National Development Planning
\nDedi M. Masykur Riyadi, whose office drafted the proposal, said
\nshould all of the strategies be implemented, the government would
\nneed about Rp 15.7 trillion ($1.5 billion) from 2006 to 2008.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jp4flu-1447899208",
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