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.