http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/manawatustandard/0,2106,3655312a6408,00.html
Jakarta says bird flu aid pledges not delivered
03 May 2006 <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=5 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=5>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]JAKARTA: 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.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]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. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]The Indonesian government understands the bird flu threat but lack of resources and commitment at the grass-root level have impeded efforts to deal with the virus, international health officials say. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"We are still waiting for the money that was pledged in Beijing," said Indonesian chief social welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie, referring to the US$1.9 ($NZ3.02) billion that international donors pledged at a January conference in Beijing. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"Up until now, there is not a single cent (that has gone) to Indonesia." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]He said Jakarta needed US$300 million a year to fight the spread of the H5N1 avian influenza virus in the vast country of more than 17,000 islands. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]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. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]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. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]At the same event, the World Health Organisation's Western Pacific director, Shigeru Omi, said culling of affected chickens was absolutely necessary. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"This is a minimal requirement. Necessary but not sufficient, particularly if the virus is already entrenched," he said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]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. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"We cannot just cull all birds which are infected or close to being infected without giving them something," said Bakrie. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]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. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]The world's fourth most populous country has around one billion chickens with 30 per cent of them living at backyards. [/FONT]
Jakarta says bird flu aid pledges not delivered
03 May 2006 <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=5 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=5>
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]JAKARTA: 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.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]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. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]The Indonesian government understands the bird flu threat but lack of resources and commitment at the grass-root level have impeded efforts to deal with the virus, international health officials say. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"We are still waiting for the money that was pledged in Beijing," said Indonesian chief social welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie, referring to the US$1.9 ($NZ3.02) billion that international donors pledged at a January conference in Beijing. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"Up until now, there is not a single cent (that has gone) to Indonesia." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]He said Jakarta needed US$300 million a year to fight the spread of the H5N1 avian influenza virus in the vast country of more than 17,000 islands. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]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. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]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. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]At the same event, the World Health Organisation's Western Pacific director, Shigeru Omi, said culling of affected chickens was absolutely necessary. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"This is a minimal requirement. Necessary but not sufficient, particularly if the virus is already entrenched," he said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]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. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"We cannot just cull all birds which are infected or close to being infected without giving them something," said Bakrie. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]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. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]The world's fourth most populous country has around one billion chickens with 30 per cent of them living at backyards. [/FONT]