UN urges Indonesia to step up efforts against bird flu

UN urges Indonesia to step up efforts against bird flu

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The United Nations urged the government here on Friday to step up
its efforts in fighting avian influenza, including culling
poultry immediately in affected areas and delegating more funds
to fight the H5N1 virus to stop it from developing into a human
pandemic.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that
bird flu had become endemic in Indonesia and was continuing to
spread, requiring that its control become a national priority.

Veterinary and civil authorities should have the full power to
enforce disease control measures such as culling and targeted
vaccination in high risk areas, although it is not easy, it said.

"In view of the worrying situation, it is necessary for the
government to improve its virus control policies and strategies,"
Joseph Domenech, chief veterinary officer of the Rome-based
agency, said in a statement.

The government had declared an "extraordinary situation" on
Monday over the spreading deadly virus, giving health authorities
power to forcibly hospitalize people with symptoms of the
disease.

Accused of responding slowly to the outbreak, the government
also planned to cull chickens in infected areas. However, the
plan has not materialized, with the affected areas left
unidentified.

The FAO said that a massive public awareness campaign was
needed to reach about 30 million village households keeping
around 200 million chickens in all.

Along with the government, the FAO is developing a national
avian influenza control project that will require around US$11
million in funds.

There have been four bird flu fatalities in Indonesia since
July, with two other recent fatalities currently being
investigated. However, the source of the virus that killed the
four victims remains a mystery.

Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari said on Friday that
tests conducted here have confirmed that a five-year-old girl who
died earlier this week did not have the virus as had originally
been suspected.

Another 22 people who showed symptoms of the disease are also
under observation in hospitals around the country.

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab said on
Friday that teams of scientists from the United States and Japan
were helping the government investigate the current outbreak.

"The countries are going to give technical assistance for
medical staff and laboratory technicians," Alwi said after a
meeting with related ministers, U.S. Ambassador B. Lynn Pascoe,
and officials from U.S.-based Center for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) and donor agencies.

Alwi said the initial fund allocated by the U.S. government
for Asian countries affected by the virus was $25 million, adding
that more money would likely be earmarked for Indonesia.

Pascoe said that the American government had the highest
confidence in the ability and energy of the Indonesian government
in coping with this problem.

"We've been quite impressed with the program at this point. We
have found the cooperation excellent... and will be working very
closely together in the future," he told the press after the
meeting.

The most urgent cooperation at the moment, Pascoe said, is
training and education, so that everyone will have enough
knowledge about bird flu, and be aware of it without panicking.

The latest data form the agriculture ministry shows that as
many as 16.2 million poultry have been killed due to the virus,
which has spread to 22 out of 33 provinces in the vast
archipelago since late 2003. It jumped species to pigs earlier
this year.

The virus has swept through poultry populations in Asia since
2003, killing tens of millions of birds and 63 people, mostly in
Vietnam and Thailand.

Meanwhile, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned of a
global economic disaster, unless countries around the world
cooperated to fight the virus.

"Bird flu does not only exist in Indonesia but also in several
countries in the region. That's why we need multinational
cooperation to contain the disease or it may hurt the global
economy," he told a press conference on Friday.

When opening a meeting of governors earlier in the day, Susilo
urged the local administrations to cooperate with the central
government in seriously addressing the problem.