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)