Rp 45 billion needed to fund anti-polio drive
Rp 45 billion needed to fund anti-polio drive
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Health Sujudi said yesterday that
the government needed Rp 45 billion (US$20 million) to support an
ambitious national program to eradicate polio.
The program, which will run for a week from Sept. 13, aims to
free Indonesian children from polio by the year 2000. It will be
repeated from Oct. 18. The campaign will be conducted again in
1996 and 1997.
The minister added that, of the Rp 45 billion required for the
program, the government could only allocate Rp 20 billion.
He said he hoped the rest would come from donor agencies and
private companies, who would take part in the campaign, and from
donations from friendly countries.
PT Bio Farma, a state-owned pharmaceutical company in Bandung,
will supply vaccine. The company has won a contract to sell polio
vaccine to Copenhagen after beating rivals from Italy, Germany,
France and Belgium.
Sujudi called on Indonesian private companies to co-sponsor
the program. His ministry held a meeting with several companies
in Jakarta on July 4 to discuss sponsorship for the program, he
said.
The ministry has appointed the Matari Advertising Agency and
UNICEF to provide communication materials for the campaign.
Matari and the Ministry of Health have urged leaders of the
mass media to sponsor public service advertisements in support of
the campaign.
According to Sujudi, the government needs Rp 13 billion to buy
the vaccine, but only Rp 7 billion is available. He said that CDC
Atlanta in the United States and Rotary International had each
contributed US$1 million towards the program.
He said the government had also received a US$340,000 donation
from Australia.
Besides publicity provided through the electronic and print
media, the ministry, in cooperation with the ministry of tourism,
post and telecommunications, will launch special stamps and
telephone cards in support of the program.
The vaccine purchase is being coordinated by UNICEF, which
will monitor the vaccine's quality.
Sujudi said 22 million children in Indonesia would be
immunized free of charge during the first phase of the program.
The minister said that his ministry would be assisted by the
Armed Forces in the vaccination campaign in remote areas.
National Immunization Week is a part of the World Health
Organization's (WHO's) Global Eradication of Polio program.
The WHO hopes that by the year 2000 polio will have been
completely eradicated from the face of the earth.
According to the WHO, Indonesia has reached the Universal
Child Immunization Standard because 80% of its newly-born babies
have received complete immunization.
Sujudi said the campaign would be accompanied by a writing
competition. The winners of the contest are to be announced on
Sept. 12, National Health Day.(05)