Government to intensify immunization for polio

Government to intensify immunization for polio

Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In anticipation of the return of the polio virus due to
increased international human traffic, the Indonesian government
is planning to launch a national polio immunization program in
2002.

Ministry of Health communicable disease eradication and
environmental health director general Umar Fahmi Achmadi said
that Indonesia was still prone to polio despite a rigorous polio
immunization campaign.

"The WHO (World Health Organization) has yet to declare
Indonesia polio-free because they believe that anti-polio
immunization programs in the past have not reached all the
targets," Umar said as quoted by Antara on Monday.

Indonesia conducted national immunization programs in 1995,
1996 and 1997, reaching 22 million children aged under five
years.

Umar said that next years' national immunization campaign was
slated for September, with aims to vaccinate 25 million under
fives for free.

Ministry of Health epidemiology, surveillance and diseases
sub-directorate head Hariadi Wibisono, responsible for polio
surveillance, said that visitors from countries with a high rate
of polio, such as India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, had opened the
way for the virus to return.

"We have managed to keep the virus out of our country for
years. We are not going to let it return," he told The Jakarta
Post, adding that it was last detected in the country in 1995.

The national immunization campaign is part of a WHO campaign
to eradicate polio worldwide by 2005. The global campaign, A
Polio Free World in 2005, began in 1988.

Polio is an infectious disease caused by a virus which attacks
the central nervous system controlling motor ability, leading to
paralysis. In severe cases, it can lead to death by asphyxiation.

It can strike people of any age but mainly children under
three. It spreads person-to-person through fecel to mouth
contact. The virus spreads easily in a dirty environment.
Research shows flies can passively transfer the polio virus from
feces to food.

Polio surveillance is conducted by examining feces of children
under 15 years of age who suffered from sudden acute paralyses.

Hariadi said that the campaign, PIN Polio, was also to
anticipate the prolonged economic crisis which increased the
number of low-income people.

"Their health status drops which eventually will increase the
risk of catching polio," he added.