Govt says polio cases found in Aceh and Riau

Govt says polio cases found in Aceh and Riau

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has reported the discovery of polio cases in Riau
and tsunami-ravaged Aceh as it prepares to embark on a third
vaccination drive next month to fight the virus that has
infected 269 children since it resurfaced in March after a
decade-long absence.

Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari said on Tuesday that a
3-year-old Acehnese boy had been found to be suffering from the
disease, the first polio case since the recent outbreak to be
discovered in Aceh, which is still struggling to recover from the
devastating impact of the Dec. 26 tsunami.

"He had not received all his vaccinations," she told a press
conference, adding that health services in Aceh had yet to return
to normal since the disaster.

Although the boy lives in a village in East Aceh District,
which was not affected by the disaster zone, health officials
voiced concern over a possible resurgence of polio in Aceh as
tens of thousands of people were still living in refugee camps.

Another case had also been found in Riau, an oil-rich province
also located on Sumatra Island, Siti said, but did not provide
details.

Siti said that it was hoped that the third round of the
vaccination drive would reach more children as Indonesia had set
a polio-free target date of 2008.

The ministry's director general of disease control, I Nyoman
Kandun, said that the government had yet to decide whether the
third round of the drive would cover under-fives nationwide or in
certain high-risk areas only.

"We will make a detailed plan soon," he said.

Indonesia has staged two rounds of the polio vaccination drive
so far -- the first in August and the second in September.

Siti said that the next round of the drive would likely be
held on Nov. 27. The cost of the drive is estimated at US$12
million, more than 60 percent of which will be covered by foreign
assistance.

Around 97 percent of the 23.4 million children targeted in the
second round of the drive in September had been vaccinated, the
minister said.

In the first round of the campaign, the government reached
approximately 22.2 million children, or 95 percent of those
targeted.

The government will pay special attention this time around to
a number of provinces, such as North Maluku, Papua and West Irian
Jaya as the first two rounds had managed to reach less than 90
percent of the targeted children in these areas, Siti said.

A third-round vaccination drive has been recommended by the
World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children
Fund (UNICEF).

"We are by no means at the end of this outbreak. While we have
done a good job ... there's still more work to be done," said
David Hipgrave, a UNICEF health official in Indonesia, as quoted
by AFP.

The water-borne virus spread to 35 regencies in 10 of the
country's total of 32 provinces at a speed that has raised
international concern that the disease could spread to
neighboring countries unless the necessary measures are taken.

The latest outbreak is said to be genetically linked to the
virus circulating in Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The
authorities believe that it was brought to Indonesia by migrant
workers, pilgrims or travelers.

The virus attacks and withers children's limbs and can be
deadly. The WHO says 19 countries have been reinfected with polio
in the last two years.