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Communities to help monitor bird flu
The government is developing a participatory surveillance response program to combat avian influenza, as part of the national strategic plan to control the spread of the disease and raise public awareness.
The program -- which began in January 2006 and initially covered only 12 districts in Java -- is a community-based surveillance system that employs teams of trained veterinary staff to undertake active field research, with the strong engagement and support of local community members.
Each team is equipped with a hand-held Global Positioning System (GPS) device and data from the teams is recorded into a database at regional local disease control centers; then merged nationally once per week.
Elly Sawitri Siregar from the campaign management unit of the Agriculture Ministry said Wednesday the government was preparing to establish two new regional surveillance offices in Sulawesi and Kalimantan, to assist the existing seven regional offices.
"Surveillance teams are now active in nine provinces, covering 114 districts in Java, 25 districts in North Sumatra, 10 districts in Lampung and nine in Bali. Each team covers one district and consists of eight members," Elly said.
John Weaver from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said in May disease surveillance and control in Indonesia was a complex task, because Indonesia is a large country with a diverse poultry industry.
In the first quarter of 2007, surveillance teams conducted more than 12,000 interviews and discovered 645 outbreaks of high pathogenic avian influenza. While response teams, tasked with vaccination and culling, responded to more than 5,500 reports.
"During the first quarter of 2007, the surveillance teams detected high pathogenic avian influenza in 80 districts. The highest number of cases were found in Bandung, followed by Yogyakarta and Bogor."
Chief executive officer of the National Committee for Avian Influenza Control and Pandemic Influenza Preparedness, Bayu Krisnamurthi, said the spread of bird flu in Indonesia had proven to be sporadic and showed no pattern.
"The government needs to ensure that the war against bird flu is launched from every angle and by people from all walks of life, in order to target the source of infection: poultry," Bayu said Wednesday at a press conference.
Bayu said Indonesia received a US$10 million grant from the European Commission and a $5 million grant from the Japanese government to be used to control the sources of bird flu and improve surveillance, monitoring and epidemiological studies.
"The surveillance and response programs alone will receive $3.01 million from both donors, which will be distributed through the Directorate General of Live Stock at the Agriculture Ministry."
He said the grants would support other efforts to improve vaccine quality through a community-based approach, in which community groups will be trained and empowered to administer vaccines to village poultry.
The program also educates community leaders on the importance of vaccinations and shows them how to set up and manage a community-based vaccination program.
The government is developing a participatory surveillance response program to combat avian influenza, as part of the national strategic plan to control the spread of the disease and raise public awareness.
The program -- which began in January 2006 and initially covered only 12 districts in Java -- is a community-based surveillance system that employs teams of trained veterinary staff to undertake active field research, with the strong engagement and support of local community members.
Each team is equipped with a hand-held Global Positioning System (GPS) device and data from the teams is recorded into a database at regional local disease control centers; then merged nationally once per week.
Elly Sawitri Siregar from the campaign management unit of the Agriculture Ministry said Wednesday the government was preparing to establish two new regional surveillance offices in Sulawesi and Kalimantan, to assist the existing seven regional offices.
"Surveillance teams are now active in nine provinces, covering 114 districts in Java, 25 districts in North Sumatra, 10 districts in Lampung and nine in Bali. Each team covers one district and consists of eight members," Elly said.
John Weaver from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said in May disease surveillance and control in Indonesia was a complex task, because Indonesia is a large country with a diverse poultry industry.
In the first quarter of 2007, surveillance teams conducted more than 12,000 interviews and discovered 645 outbreaks of high pathogenic avian influenza. While response teams, tasked with vaccination and culling, responded to more than 5,500 reports.
"During the first quarter of 2007, the surveillance teams detected high pathogenic avian influenza in 80 districts. The highest number of cases were found in Bandung, followed by Yogyakarta and Bogor."
Chief executive officer of the National Committee for Avian Influenza Control and Pandemic Influenza Preparedness, Bayu Krisnamurthi, said the spread of bird flu in Indonesia had proven to be sporadic and showed no pattern.
"The government needs to ensure that the war against bird flu is launched from every angle and by people from all walks of life, in order to target the source of infection: poultry," Bayu said Wednesday at a press conference.
Bayu said Indonesia received a US$10 million grant from the European Commission and a $5 million grant from the Japanese government to be used to control the sources of bird flu and improve surveillance, monitoring and epidemiological studies.
"The surveillance and response programs alone will receive $3.01 million from both donors, which will be distributed through the Directorate General of Live Stock at the Agriculture Ministry."
He said the grants would support other efforts to improve vaccine quality through a community-based approach, in which community groups will be trained and empowered to administer vaccines to village poultry.
The program also educates community leaders on the importance of vaccinations and shows them how to set up and manage a community-based vaccination program.