Indonesia declares itself polio-free

Indonesia declares itself polio-free

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia, keeping up with other countries in the region in
combating the deadly disease, declared on Tuesday that it was a
polio-free nation and will receive certification of this status
from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2005.

Minister of Health Achmad Suyudi said that the polio-free
certification would be granted by WHO to countries that manage to
eradicate the polio virus -- a virus capable of incapacitating or
killing children under 15 years old.

"I am optimistic that Indonesia will achieve the certification
as the national immunization drive has been successful," he said.

A total of 20.7 million children under five years old were
vaccinated last year, 107 percent of the target set earlier.

The minister warned, however, that despite the fact that
Indonesia was free from polio, people should remain cautious
given that the disease could break out at any time in the future.

"That is why Indonesia has to wait until 2005 to receive
certification from WHO," the minister said at a meeting to
dissolve the committee of the 2002 national immunization drive.

Speaking on the same occasion, Director General Umar Fahmi of
the Eradication of Contagious Diseases and Sanitation at the
Ministry of Health said the polio immunization campaign had been
conducted simultaneously throughout 30 provinces, covering 67,718
villages. The campaign, initiated in September 2002, coincided
with other health programs of the ministry, such as the vitamin A
supplementation program in August and the measles vaccination
program in October.

The campaign, involving 7,306 puskesmas (community health
centers) and about 250,000 immunization posts, was the second of
its kind since 1997.

"In fact, the first campaign in 1997 had gotten rid of polio,
but the vaccination drive was again taken in 2002, because India,
which is geographically close to our country, still carries
polio," the minister explained.

Suyudi noted that the political and economic crisis which hit
the country in late 1997 had hampered the fight against polio.

Pointing to the important role played by posyandu (community
health posts) in procuring the vaccines, he said, "This program
was also designed to revitalize the functions of posyandu, which
were initiated by the ministry and thrived under the
administration of former president Soeharto."

The ministry encountered some problems during the vaccination
campaign which needed to be addressed, such as time constraints
for preparations, delays in fund channeling, and incompleteness
of reports from the majority of provincial committees.

The campaign, despite its shortcomings, managed to achieve
positive results in conflict areas such as Aceh, Maluku and
Papua.

Data from the ministry shows that vaccination targets reached
109.3 percent and 78.3 percent respectively for Maluku and Papua,
while in Aceh, the figure stood at 102.5 percent.

The entire campaign, which cost Rp 119 million (US$13
million), was jointly sponsored by the Indonesian government,
WHO, Unicef (United Nations Children's Emergency Fund), USAID
(United States Agency for International Development), Helen
Keller International and Rotary International.

Other parties that participated in the implementation of the
campaign were institutions such as non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), as well as state-owned and private companies.