European Union lauds Indonesia's efforts to stamp out bird flu

European Union lauds Indonesia's efforts to stamp out bird flu

Agencies, Jakarta

The cash-strapped government cannot fight the deadly bird flu virus alone, a visiting European Union health official said here Tuesday, citing the need for international assistance.

Indonesia, criticized for moving too slowly when the H5N1 virus first appeared in poultry stock two years ago, has announced plans in recent days to intensify efforts to contain the disease.

Thousands of troops were preparing to go house-to-house in search of sick birds, officials said, and a task force would be formed to monitor fresh outbreaks.

Still, the government has rejected calls to slaughter all poultry in bird flu-infected areas -- which experts claim is the best way to contain bird flu's spread -- opting instead for mass vaccinations of poultry.

Markos Kyprianou, the European Union's commissioner for public health and consumer protection, said that after meeting Minister of Agriculture Anton Apriyantono he was convinced the government was doing what it could.

"Indonesia has a plan and the political will to handle its avian flu problem," Kyprianou said on the last leg of his Southeast Asia tour, which included stops in Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia.

But it "needs international support and that's why we're here", he said. "The more effective (we are) in dealing with the problem at its source, the better we protect humans."

The required assistance includes carrying out poultry vaccinations, culling infected poultry, and cooperation in research, Kyprianou said.

He gave no details on assistance the EU might provide, but the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has sent an emergency team to Indonesia that will spearhead the testing of backyard chickens for bird flu across the main island of Java.

Those teams hope to start work at the end of the month, the FAO has said. FAO has said there were about 200 million chickens being raised by 30 million households in Indonesia.

Separately, Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said troops were going to be involved in fighting the virus as the government considered it as a threat to national security.

The limited number of health officers and others from the Ministry of Agriculture also prompted the government to assign troops to help in the anti-bird flu campaign, particularly in remote areas across the country.

"We could comb houses although they may only have one or two chickens," Endriartono said.

Outbreaks of avian influenza have left poultry flocks devastated across Asia since 2003, and the disease has jumped to humans, killing at least 64 people.

There have been five confirmed deaths in Indonesia since July, and officials were awaiting Hong Kong laboratory results for two other young women who died earlier this month.

Most people contract the deadly H5N1 virus from sick birds, but experts fear it will mutate to a form that is easily transmitted between humans, sparking a pandemic that could kill millions worldwide.

Indonesia, which has allocated only a tiny portion of its budget to fighting the virus, has asked for help from the World Bank and the European Union.

Indonesia's agriculture ministry needs US$130 million for H5N1 control operations from 2006 to 2008, Apriyantono said, adding that he would prefer equipment, experts and research development to cash. (Additional reporting by The Jakarta Post's Muninggar Sri Saraswati)