Australia helps in fight against polio

Australia helps in fight against polio

JAKARTA: Australia has donated A$1 million to help Indonesia
control a polio outbreak that has so far infected seven children
aged under five.

Australian Ambassador to Indonesia David Ritchie said the
assistance would held fund a house-to-house immunization program
and the training of Indonesian health workers by the World Health
Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) and the
Indonesian health ministry.

"The campaign is aimed at immunizing all children under 5 in
three provinces -- West Java, Jakarta and Banten, which are near
to the affected district, Sukabumi," Ritchie said on Thursday.

The ministry of health's Bio Farma laboratory has investigated
17 suspected cases of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) in Sukabumi,
with seven of them testing positive. The surveillance officer in
Banten, meanwhile, has reported seven cases of AFP in Rawa Bebek
and Cikamura villages.

A spokesman for the ministry, Suprijadi, said 9,301 children
from 11 villages had received vaccine. (004)