Agency slow to spread bird flu info

Agency slow to spread bird flu info

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

What is the key to combating bird flu? The answer may be as
simple as good personal and environmental hygiene, but Jakarta
health officials have been slow to share this information with
the public.

While one more person with bird flu died on Monday and 22
others are under observation at Sulianti Saroso Hospital in North
Jakarta, the city health agency has been more focused on curative
than preventive measures.

However, community health centers in areas where bird flu has
been reported have been more active in disseminating information
on bird flu and how to contain the virus.

"We asked health officials to talk to local residents on how
to deal with bird flu right after the closure of Ragunan Zoo,"
said Ragunan sub-district head Fihir Sadil.

But the campaign only reached a few locals since it was held
in the sub-district office. The sub-district itself is diverse as
kampong areas are located nearby upmarket residences.

Local health center staff have distributed flyers on
preventive measures as well as the symptoms of bird flu.

A similar campaign has been launched in Pesanggrahan sub-
district, where the city saw its first bird flu fatality.

However, bird-flu free areas have not been so active in
educating residents, particularly poultry keepers.

"We were only told by health officers to have ourselves
checked if we came down with the flu," said Wiguno Adi, a
resident of Jagakarsa, South Jakarta.

Community health workers in Cilandak and Pondok Labu, South
Jakarta, said they had only been told to watch out for patients
showing symptoms of bird flu.

"We are few in number. We can't go door-to-door instructing
people to observe good hygiene," said a doctor at the center who
refused to be identified.

City health agency spokesperson Zelvyno said the agency had
told community health workers to meet with locals and reeducate
them on good hygiene.

"It is up to the centers to allow time for the campaign, there
is no special budget for it," she said.

The government has put the outbreak of bird flu
under extraordinary status, a level that requires the government
to pool its resources to fight the disease.

The health ministry's director for communicable diseases and
environmental health I Nyoman Kandun said if residents observed
good hygiene the risk of the virus spreading would be reduced by
95 percent.

"It will also help us fight other diseases like hepatitis," he
said. (003)