'Govt, farmers have to stop the epidemic'

'Govt, farmers have to stop the epidemic'

The lack of coordination between government and the regions in
monitoring the health of meat and livestock has been exposed by
the avian influenza -- or bird flu -- epidemic. Uncertainty over
whether this airborne virus has spread to humans has prompted
many residents to stop buying and eating chicken. The Jakarta
Post talked to some city dwellers about how they dealt with the
issue.

Eko Ari Wibowo, 26, is an account executive for an IT company
in Harmoni, Central Jakarta. He lives in Ciledug, West Jakarta:

I'm not really worried about this avian flu thing, since from
what I know of, the disease is still only spreading abroad, and
there has been no confirmation yet of anybody in Indonesia
contracting the disease.

Besides, I also read in the newspapers that people cannot
contract the disease if they properly cook their eggs and chicken
meat.

I've even eaten fast-food fried chicken meals three times this
week, though my mother, who is very concerned about the matter,
has been telling me not to eat chicken.

But what can I do, since I'm such a chicken meat aficionado?

Nyoman Sudarmadi, 40, is a manager of a bank at Jl. Jend.
Sudirman, Central Jakarta. He lives in Bekasi, east of Jakarta:

The involvement of all related parties in taking preventive
measures is what I think is badly needed to deal with the avian
flu problem.

Chicken farmers, for example, should always make sure that
their farms are clean enough to prevent a disease from breeding
then spreading, and always monitor the health of their chickens.

If an outbreak such as bird flu or the more common Newcastle
disease, or tetelo, should occur in their farms, it is they who
will bear the loss.

Moreover, the government should also provide an adequate
compensation scheme, like what governments in other countries do,
if a mass culling of chickens is really needed to stop the spread
of the disease.

That way, chicken farmers, especially the small-scale ones,
would not feel reluctant about taking such measures, or feel left
in the cold bearing all the economic losses.

--The Jakarta Post