Indonesia to declare bird flu a national disaster
Pastor Dale Morgan
Indonesia to declare bird flu a national disaster*
Reuters
Wednesday, January 31, 2007; 5:32 AM
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia will declare bird flu a national disaster
following a fresh flare-up in the country, which has the world's highest
human death toll from the virus, the planning minister said on Wednesday.
The move will guarantee financial support from a special budget fund for
efforts to tackle the disease.
Six Indonesians have died of bird flu this year, taking the country's
death toll to 63, and several suspected cases have been admitted to
hospital since the start of the year.
A spokesman of Sardjito hospital in Yogyakarta said the hospital was
treating 14 suspected bird flu patients.
The H5N1 bird flu virus is endemic in poultry in most provinces in the
archipelago of 17,000 islands spread across thousands of kilometers.
"Bird flu has now entered the category of a national disaster. It is an
epidemic, the funding will be allocated from a disaster fund in the
state budget," Paskah Suzetta said.
"The president will announce it. He has indicated that this is a
national disaster. The handling of this will no longer be on an ad hoc
basis, but it will be done comprehensively."
Indonesia said in December it planned to ramp up its fight against the
virus and hoped to beat it by the end of 2007.
The country will raise anti-bird flu funding to $61 million in 2007, up
from the $46.45 million previously planned and the $55 million allocated
for last year.
The international community has also pledged to provide $65 million to
help Indonesia combat the disease in 2007, compared to $35 million in 2006.
As part of its efforts, Indonesia has launched a campaign against
backyard birds. Jakarta's governor has announced that birds must have
flu-free certificates from authorities by February 1.
Although bird flu remains essentially an animal disease, experts fear it
could mutate into a form that could pass easily among humans, possibly
killing millions.
The virus has killed at least 164 people since 2003, according to WHO.
At least 200 million birds, the majority of them chickens and ducks,
have died or been culled, costing farmers and the poultry industry
billions of dollars across dozens of countries.