Govt vaccinates children in volatile provinces

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) is running an immunization program, which is expected to cover around 2.52 million children aged below five living in five riot-torn provinces.

Called the Sub-National Immunization Day (SNID), the program in general is meant to provide polio and measles vaccines and vitamin A supplements for the children. The ministry also hopes the project will boost the nationwide campaign against polio as the government hopes to eradicate the virus by 2003.

The volatile provinces are Irian Jaya, Aceh, Maluku, North Maluku and East Nusa Tenggara.

As of Dec. 11, the immunization had been conducted on 1.35 million children, with polio vaccination being the most successful with over 90 percent coverage. Vitamin supplements were below 60 percent, which was the least successful.

"So far this year (2000) Indonesia has been free of wild polio virus, which can cause children to suffer paralyzed feet in acute cases," the Minister of Health and Social Welfare Achmad Sujudi told a media conference on Tuesday.

Sujudi said the immunization program was launched in the provinces as children living there are the most prone to disease as a result of the protracted conflicts as well as natural disasters.

"These regions host a huge number of internally displaced people who are prone to diseases such as respiratory problems, diarrhea as well as other illnesses that usually attack children, namely polio, measles and conditions related to vitamin deficiencies," Sujudi said.

Project leader Broto Wasisto said in several areas the number of vaccinated children exceeded the target due to the presence of migrants and newly born babies.

According to data from the World Health Organization, before the development of the polio vaccine, the virus paralyzed or killed 500,000 children annually worldwide.

"Today, thanks to oral polio vaccine, an estimated three million children who might otherwise have been disabled by polio are able to run, walk and play normally," Georg Petersen, WHO representative in Indonesia, said.

Since the World Health Assembly in 1988 decided to eradicate polio by the year 2000, the number of polio cases has fallen by 85 percent, he said.

The Americas and Western Pacific regions are certified polio- free and polio is gone from Europe, too, he said.

"Wild polio virus is now confined to only 20 countries," Petersen added.

In a bid to fight polio, WHO has stated that by every child's first birthday, they should receive at least four doses of oral polio vaccine.

A systematic vaccination of all children in a community over a short period of time ensures that the virus does not have a "safe place" to live, Petersen said.

"As long as a single child remains infected with polio virus, children in all countries are at risk. The virus can be easily re-imported into a country and spread rapidly. Therefore, a coordination of eradication efforts in all countries is the key to success." (edt)