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.