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.