Indonesia has highest rate of Hepatitis B
Indonesia has highest rate of Hepatitis B
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia has the world highest prevalence of
Hepatitis B, a disease which can lead to cirrhosis and cancer of
the liver, according to an official.
Director-General of Communicable Diseases Prevention Hadi M.
Abednego said yesterday that some 20 percent of Indonesia's total
population of 202.74 million are affected by Hepatitis B.
"It's the world's highest rate. It's really a cause for
alarm," he was quoted by Antara as saying in Kendari, Southeast
Sulawesi.
According to Ministry of Health data, one in 10 babies are
born of mothers who have Hepatitis B and are therefore liable to
contract the disease.
President Soeharto dedicated last December in Bandung a US$10
million Hepatitis B vaccine plant owned jointly by Perum Bio
Farma, the state pharmaceutical company, and PT Triharsa Husada
Utama, which is owned by Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti
Hardiyanti Rukmana.
The plant has an initial capacity to produce 10 million
vaccines a year, and will be expanded to 15 million in the
future.
Locally made vaccine is priced at Rp 3,000 (US$1.27) per
dosage, while some imported vaccines cost Rp 25,000 per dosage,
Antara reported.
In compliance with a United Nations call, Indonesia has
recently launched a Hepatitis B immunization campaign. Given the
limited vaccine available at present, however, the campaign has
been limited to provinces where the disease is most prevalent.
Hadi named the provinces as: Jakarta, West Java, Central Java,
East Java, Yogyakarta, Bali, West Sumatra, West Kalimantan, West
Nusa Tenggara, and Lampung.
Later this year, however, the campaign will target some five
million children under five years of age in all of the 27
provinces of Indonesia.
"I'm optimistic we can reach the target on schedule," Hadi
said.
The vaccination campaign is part of the national health
development program, the targets of which include the eradication
of tuberculosis, tetanus, measles, polio and Hepatitis B.
A total of 23 million children under five years old were
administered with the polio vaccine during the anti-polio
campaign last year, which must be repeated again this year and in
1997 to eradicate the virus from Indonesia once and for all.
(swe)