Paras Indonesia, September, 28 2005 @ 05:29 pm
Ducking Responsibility For Bird Flu
Indonesia has been criticized for coming up short in its effort to combat the spread of
bird flu virus, which has now killed six people, while about 60 others are under
observation for showing possible symptoms of the disease.
"Fears of a possibly uncontrollable bird flu outbreak were sweeping Indonesia last
night after the government warned of a potential epidemic," squawked one recent
article on the avian influenza outbreak.
Australian newspaper The Age, in an article headlined 'Indon bird flu fears take flight',
quoted a nameless 'expert' as saying: "They have spent a year saying they have it
under control. This is bullshit. Indonesia hasn't got it under control and the longer they
go on not culling, the bigger the problem is going to be."
London's Guardian found a nameless 'Jakarta-based diplomat' to make a similar,
albeit more polite, statement: "The problem is that there's an awful lot the government
is completely in the dark over when it comes to monitoring the nation for bird flu."
While such criticism appears warranted, the World Health Organization (WHO) has
not yet advised against travel to Indonesia and other affected Asian countries. WHO's
latest update puts Indonesia's death toll from bird flu at three, saying the final proof of
the disease depends on the result of a Polymerase Chain Reaction test.
According to WHO, there is no evidence yet that the H5N1 virus is spreading easily
from person to person. But concern remains the virus might mutate into a form that is
easily transmissible between humans, causing a pandemic that could kill millions.
Indonesia has a poor track record in dealing with bird flu. After the virus first hit the
country in August 2003, the government spent a whole five months denying there was
any cause for concern and instead attributed the deaths of millions of chickens to
Newcastle disease, which is harmless to humans. On January 24, 2004, then
agriculture minister Bungaran Saragih maintained that Indonesia was free of the
disease because poultry imports from countries affected by bird flu had been banned.
But the following day, the ministry's then director for animal husbandry finally admitted
that bird flu had been found in Central Java back August and become widespread
between September and November.
Saragih subsequently acknowledged that authorities had reacted slowly to the
problem but denied there had been a cover-up. "Yes, indeed, very slow. Because this
is the first time it has happened, we do not want to be hasty. Better be slow than
make the wrong decision," he said. Although initially unwilling to order a mass cull of
infected birds, he confidently predicted the country would be free of the disease by
July 2004.
Avian influenza has now killed over 20 million domesticated birds in 22 of the country's
33 provinces. When Indonesia suffered its first human casualties from the disease in
July, authorities made quite a media show of slaughtering a few pigs, chickens and
ducks outside a small village west of Jakarta. But promises of mass culls are yet to
become a reality, ostensibly due to a lack of funds, data and strategies.
While it's easy to sneer at such an excuse amid growing pledges of foreign
assistance to tackle bird flu via deliveries of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu, the UN's Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says there is a serious funding gap in the global
strategy for the control of the virus.
Indonesia's fight against bird flu should become a national priority and veterinary and
civil authorities should be provided with the full power to enforce disease control
measures, the group said in a recent statement.
"Avian influenza has become endemic in Indonesia and it is continuing to spread. In
view of the worrying situation, it is necessary for the government to improve its virus
control policies and strategies," said FAO's chief veterinary officer Joseph Domenech.
Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari on Wednesday (28/9/05) said the government had
formed a special team to prepare for any bird flu pandemic and coordinate foreign
assistance and funding.
In remains to be seen whether the ministry's National Pandemic Aid Plan will lead to
the establishment of a desperately needed comprehensive surveillance network and
more laboratories.
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