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Jakarta denies being lax in bird flu fight<!--
Thursday, August 10, 2006-->
Web posted at: 8/10/2006 18:31:54
JAKARTA • Indonesia yesterday lashed out at critics of its efforts to combat bird flu, which has killed 44 citizens since July last year, the highest death toll from the virus in the world.
Two teenagers were confirmed on Tuesday as Indonesia’s latest fatalities from the H5N1 virus, which was first detected in humans here just over a year ago and has spread steadily across 28 of the country’s 33 provinces. Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie said Indonesia had received virtually no international financial support despite pledges of cash, but had slaughtered millions of birds and allocated $50m to fight H5N1 this year.
“It is untrue... that Indonesia is hesitant to act on both issues, one suggesting that we are hesitant to use our own money and the other, to perform culling,” Bakrie said.
“This is an official rebuttal from the Indonesian government,” he told a press briefing following a government meeting, citing critical media reports and foreign experts.
Since 2004, he said, authorities have killed almost 29 million chickens, including 5.93 million belonging to backyard and small-scale farmers, while 260 million birds have been vaccinated. “This indicates that the government has seriously carried out the culling of chickens in places where they have been found positive with bird flu,” he said. “Culling will go on.” But Indonesia has not instituted widespread culls in the manner of Thailand and Vietnam, which have also been hard-hit by H5N1. Thailand has nevertheless reported two more human deaths since late July, its first this year.
At an international donors’ conference earlier this year, Jakarta estimated it needed $900m to launch an effective campaign against the virus. Donors pledged $100m.“Indonesia has not received even a single cent,” Bakrie said, adding that the government had so far financed more than 95 per cent of its bird flu programs from its own coffers. The rest has come from separate international donations.
He said the government had paid 60 billion rupiah ($6.6m) in compensation to farmers and would allocate about $50m to finance this year’s anti-bird flu programs.
Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said Indonesia’s massive size — it is comprised of some 17,000 islands — meant it was difficult to constantly monitor an estimated 30 million homes where chickens are kept.“This is actually the real problem, how to control 30 million households spread across Indonesia,” he said. http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Rest+of+the+World&month=August2006&file=World_News20060810183154.xml
Thursday, August 10, 2006-->
Web posted at: 8/10/2006 18:31:54
JAKARTA • Indonesia yesterday lashed out at critics of its efforts to combat bird flu, which has killed 44 citizens since July last year, the highest death toll from the virus in the world.
Two teenagers were confirmed on Tuesday as Indonesia’s latest fatalities from the H5N1 virus, which was first detected in humans here just over a year ago and has spread steadily across 28 of the country’s 33 provinces. Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie said Indonesia had received virtually no international financial support despite pledges of cash, but had slaughtered millions of birds and allocated $50m to fight H5N1 this year.
“It is untrue... that Indonesia is hesitant to act on both issues, one suggesting that we are hesitant to use our own money and the other, to perform culling,” Bakrie said.
“This is an official rebuttal from the Indonesian government,” he told a press briefing following a government meeting, citing critical media reports and foreign experts.
Since 2004, he said, authorities have killed almost 29 million chickens, including 5.93 million belonging to backyard and small-scale farmers, while 260 million birds have been vaccinated. “This indicates that the government has seriously carried out the culling of chickens in places where they have been found positive with bird flu,” he said. “Culling will go on.” But Indonesia has not instituted widespread culls in the manner of Thailand and Vietnam, which have also been hard-hit by H5N1. Thailand has nevertheless reported two more human deaths since late July, its first this year.
At an international donors’ conference earlier this year, Jakarta estimated it needed $900m to launch an effective campaign against the virus. Donors pledged $100m.“Indonesia has not received even a single cent,” Bakrie said, adding that the government had so far financed more than 95 per cent of its bird flu programs from its own coffers. The rest has come from separate international donations.
He said the government had paid 60 billion rupiah ($6.6m) in compensation to farmers and would allocate about $50m to finance this year’s anti-bird flu programs.
Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said Indonesia’s massive size — it is comprised of some 17,000 islands — meant it was difficult to constantly monitor an estimated 30 million homes where chickens are kept.“This is actually the real problem, how to control 30 million households spread across Indonesia,” he said. http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Rest+of+the+World&month=August2006&file=World_News20060810183154.xml