Theresa42
Well-known member
Jakarta wants world to fulfill bird flu aid pledges
Tue 2 May 2006 4:18 AM ET
By Achmad Sukarsono
JAKARTA, May 2 (Reuters) - Indonesia, the country with the most bird flu deaths this year, has not yet received funds donors have pledged to fight the disease that could cripple the world if it grows into a pandemic, a minister said on Tuesday.
Bird flu has killed at least 24 people in Indonesia since 2003, but many ordinary Indonesians are unaware of its global impact and have not taken extra steps to combat the disease.
The Indonesian government understands the bird flu threat but lack of resources and commitment at the grassroot level have impeded efforts to deal with the virus, international health officials say.
"We are still waiting for the money that was pledged in Beijing," said Indonesian chief social welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie, referring to the $1.9 billion that international donors pledged at a January conference in Beijing.
"Up until now, there is not a single cent (that has gone) to Indonesia."
He said Jakarta needed $300 million a year to fight the spread of the H5N1 avian influenza virus in the vast country of more than 17,000 islands.
He made the remarks during a handover of a part of the 500,000 Tamiflu treatment courses promised by Japan to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which will stockpile them in Singapore.
The packages of Tamiflu, which is among a very small number of drugs that can help limit the severity of the H5N1 avian flu virus in humans, will be dispatched anywhere in Southeast Asia at the onset of a pandemic, officials said.
A the same event, the World Health Organisation's Western Pacific director, Shigeru Omi, said culling of affected chickens was absolutely necessary.
"This is a minimal requirement. Necessary but not sufficient, particularly if the virus is already entrenched," he said.
Jakarta has resisted mass culling of birds, citing lack of compensation funds and the impracticality of it in a country where keeping chickens or ducks in backyards is common.
"We cannot just cull all birds which are infected or close to being infected without giving them something," said Bakrie.
Culling at selective farms and their immediate surroundings has been the preferred method in Indonesia, where the H5N1 virus has been reported in birds in most of 33 provinces.
The world's fourth most populous country has around one billion chickens with 30 percent of them living at backyards
http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=JAK42024
Tue 2 May 2006 4:18 AM ET
By Achmad Sukarsono
JAKARTA, May 2 (Reuters) - Indonesia, the country with the most bird flu deaths this year, has not yet received funds donors have pledged to fight the disease that could cripple the world if it grows into a pandemic, a minister said on Tuesday.
Bird flu has killed at least 24 people in Indonesia since 2003, but many ordinary Indonesians are unaware of its global impact and have not taken extra steps to combat the disease.
The Indonesian government understands the bird flu threat but lack of resources and commitment at the grassroot level have impeded efforts to deal with the virus, international health officials say.
"We are still waiting for the money that was pledged in Beijing," said Indonesian chief social welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie, referring to the $1.9 billion that international donors pledged at a January conference in Beijing.
"Up until now, there is not a single cent (that has gone) to Indonesia."
He said Jakarta needed $300 million a year to fight the spread of the H5N1 avian influenza virus in the vast country of more than 17,000 islands.
He made the remarks during a handover of a part of the 500,000 Tamiflu treatment courses promised by Japan to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which will stockpile them in Singapore.
The packages of Tamiflu, which is among a very small number of drugs that can help limit the severity of the H5N1 avian flu virus in humans, will be dispatched anywhere in Southeast Asia at the onset of a pandemic, officials said.
A the same event, the World Health Organisation's Western Pacific director, Shigeru Omi, said culling of affected chickens was absolutely necessary.
"This is a minimal requirement. Necessary but not sufficient, particularly if the virus is already entrenched," he said.
Jakarta has resisted mass culling of birds, citing lack of compensation funds and the impracticality of it in a country where keeping chickens or ducks in backyards is common.
"We cannot just cull all birds which are infected or close to being infected without giving them something," said Bakrie.
Culling at selective farms and their immediate surroundings has been the preferred method in Indonesia, where the H5N1 virus has been reported in birds in most of 33 provinces.
The world's fourth most populous country has around one billion chickens with 30 percent of them living at backyards
http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=JAK42024