ADB helps develop Central Sulawesi

ADB helps develop Central Sulawesi

JAKARTA (JP): The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will soon
disburse US$35.66 million worth in assistance to support
development efforts in areas of Central Sulawesi recently hit by
schistosomiasis.

"The ADB is determined to keep their commitment to disburse
the assistance based on its agreement with the Indonesian
government in April last year," the head of the provincial
planning board office, Yahya Ponulele, said in Palu.

The ADB assistance package will last seven years from April
and is aimed at helping increase the life expectancy of people
living in 103 villages in five subdistricts, Antara reported
yesterday.

The program includes the relocation of all people living in
isolated areas near the Lore-Lindu national park to new
neighborhoods near road systems.

Yahya said ADB predicted that the program would be able to
decrease cases of schistosomiasis, a disease spread by the small
trematode worm Oncomelania Hupensis Lindoensis.

A provincial health coordinator for the Central Sulawesi area
suffering from endemic schistosomiasis, Dr. Herman Wibowo, said
schistosomiasis was discovered in 1972 in Sulawesi's Napu and
Lindu valleys.

Until now schistosomiasis has been found only in Indonesia,
South Africa and China.