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World Bank Says Bird Flu Threatens Indonesian Economy (Update3)
By Berni Moestafa and Karima Anjani
Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Rich countries need to help fight bird flu in Indonesia, where the virus has killed an average of one person a week this year, because it poses a ``quite severe'' threat to its economy, a World Bank official said.
More international aid and government spending is needed to plug a lack of funds available for programs to control the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, said Andrew Steer, the World Bank's Indonesia country director. Indonesia needs about $215 million a year to fight H5N1. Less than $100 million has been allocated by donors and the government this year, he said.
The Bank expressed some ``concern that the budget of the Indonesian government is declining next year,'' Steer told reporters in the capital, Jakarta today. ``We would recommend against that.''
Indonesia is under pressure to control H5N1 in poultry, which risks infecting humans and creates chances for the virus to mutate into a pandemic form that may kill millions of people. The Southeast Asian nation accounts for a third of the 141 human H5N1 fatalities reported during the past three years.
Government expenditure on programs to control H5N1 may fall by 15 percent to $46.5 million in 2007 from $54.4 million this year, Bayu Krisnamurthi, secretary of a government-appointed committee on avian and pandemic flu, said today. International assistance on avian flu, including in the form of goods and services, amount to $35.4 million so far this year, he said yesterday.
More Aid
Aid from donors hasn't been given for vaccinating poultry and compensating farmers for culled poultry, Krisnamurthi said. ``We told them it's critical and they now agree.''
Donor countries have pledged $55 million for avian and pandemic flu preparedness efforts in Indonesia. They are not willing to ``compensate or substitute a declining government budget,'' Steer said. Support from the international community ``needs to rise more,'' he said.
The Washington-based World Bank, which funds projects to alleviate poverty, is working with developing countries to improve hospitals and laboratories to bolster disease surveillance and management of avian flu.
Human fatalities worldwide from the H5N1 strain have tripled this year. In Indonesia, the virus has infected at least 60 people since July last year, killing 46 of them.
``The threat to Indonesia's health is very clear but, in addition to that, the threat to the economy of Indonesia is quite severe,'' Steer said.
Tourism Threat
International investors are ``being cautious about coming to Indonesia because of the concern of avian influenza,'' he said. ``There is also fear that tourism will get hurt.''
Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, needs investment to boost economic growth, which the International Monetary Fund says may slow this year for the first time since 2001. The IMF expects gross domestic product to expand 5.2 percent in 2006 after a 5.6 percent expansion in 2005.
The virus has spread in poultry across two-thirds of the country's 33 provinces since late 2003. Poultry are raised in the backyards of about 80 percent of the country's 55 million households.
National funds allocated to stop the disease at its source -- domestic poultry and caged birds -- is under-funded, while about 60 percent to 70 percent is earmarked for human health, David Hipgrave, chief of the Jakarta-based health and nutrition unit of the United Nations Children's Fund, said yesterday.
Roche's Tamiflu
To treat human avian flu cases, the government bought 2 million capsules of Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu antiviral medicine, Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said today. The shipment will arrive in October, she said in a text message today.
Five million capsules of Tamiflu, known scientifically as oseltamivir, have been distributed to provincial health offices and hospitals, Supari said yesterday. Another 5 million capsules of oseltamivir are being produced locally, bringing the total supply for this year to 12 million, she said.
Oseltamivir is recommended by the World Health Organization as the first choice for doctors treating human cases of avian flu. The drug's efficacy depends on its administration within 48 hours of onset of symptoms, according to the UN agency.
A stockpile of 12 million Tamiflu capsules would be enough to treat 1.2 million people, or about 0.5 percent of the country's 238 million people.
In the event of a pandemic, lower-income countries in the Asia-Pacific region would find it difficult to obtain sufficient supplies of medicines, according to a study published this week in the Lancet medical journal.
To contact the reporter on this story: Berni Moestafa in Jakarta at bmoestafa@bloomberg.net Karima Anjani in Singapore at kanjani@bloomberg.net
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aWPVdyY1TJjY&refer=latin_america
By Berni Moestafa and Karima Anjani
Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Rich countries need to help fight bird flu in Indonesia, where the virus has killed an average of one person a week this year, because it poses a ``quite severe'' threat to its economy, a World Bank official said.
More international aid and government spending is needed to plug a lack of funds available for programs to control the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, said Andrew Steer, the World Bank's Indonesia country director. Indonesia needs about $215 million a year to fight H5N1. Less than $100 million has been allocated by donors and the government this year, he said.
The Bank expressed some ``concern that the budget of the Indonesian government is declining next year,'' Steer told reporters in the capital, Jakarta today. ``We would recommend against that.''
Indonesia is under pressure to control H5N1 in poultry, which risks infecting humans and creates chances for the virus to mutate into a pandemic form that may kill millions of people. The Southeast Asian nation accounts for a third of the 141 human H5N1 fatalities reported during the past three years.
Government expenditure on programs to control H5N1 may fall by 15 percent to $46.5 million in 2007 from $54.4 million this year, Bayu Krisnamurthi, secretary of a government-appointed committee on avian and pandemic flu, said today. International assistance on avian flu, including in the form of goods and services, amount to $35.4 million so far this year, he said yesterday.
More Aid
Aid from donors hasn't been given for vaccinating poultry and compensating farmers for culled poultry, Krisnamurthi said. ``We told them it's critical and they now agree.''
Donor countries have pledged $55 million for avian and pandemic flu preparedness efforts in Indonesia. They are not willing to ``compensate or substitute a declining government budget,'' Steer said. Support from the international community ``needs to rise more,'' he said.
The Washington-based World Bank, which funds projects to alleviate poverty, is working with developing countries to improve hospitals and laboratories to bolster disease surveillance and management of avian flu.
Human fatalities worldwide from the H5N1 strain have tripled this year. In Indonesia, the virus has infected at least 60 people since July last year, killing 46 of them.
``The threat to Indonesia's health is very clear but, in addition to that, the threat to the economy of Indonesia is quite severe,'' Steer said.
Tourism Threat
International investors are ``being cautious about coming to Indonesia because of the concern of avian influenza,'' he said. ``There is also fear that tourism will get hurt.''
Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, needs investment to boost economic growth, which the International Monetary Fund says may slow this year for the first time since 2001. The IMF expects gross domestic product to expand 5.2 percent in 2006 after a 5.6 percent expansion in 2005.
The virus has spread in poultry across two-thirds of the country's 33 provinces since late 2003. Poultry are raised in the backyards of about 80 percent of the country's 55 million households.
National funds allocated to stop the disease at its source -- domestic poultry and caged birds -- is under-funded, while about 60 percent to 70 percent is earmarked for human health, David Hipgrave, chief of the Jakarta-based health and nutrition unit of the United Nations Children's Fund, said yesterday.
Roche's Tamiflu
To treat human avian flu cases, the government bought 2 million capsules of Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu antiviral medicine, Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said today. The shipment will arrive in October, she said in a text message today.
Five million capsules of Tamiflu, known scientifically as oseltamivir, have been distributed to provincial health offices and hospitals, Supari said yesterday. Another 5 million capsules of oseltamivir are being produced locally, bringing the total supply for this year to 12 million, she said.
Oseltamivir is recommended by the World Health Organization as the first choice for doctors treating human cases of avian flu. The drug's efficacy depends on its administration within 48 hours of onset of symptoms, according to the UN agency.
A stockpile of 12 million Tamiflu capsules would be enough to treat 1.2 million people, or about 0.5 percent of the country's 238 million people.
In the event of a pandemic, lower-income countries in the Asia-Pacific region would find it difficult to obtain sufficient supplies of medicines, according to a study published this week in the Lancet medical journal.
To contact the reporter on this story: Berni Moestafa in Jakarta at bmoestafa@bloomberg.net Karima Anjani in Singapore at kanjani@bloomberg.net
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aWPVdyY1TJjY&refer=latin_america