Funds from the European Union, Indonesian Ministry of Health Launches Bird Flu Program

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The Ministry of Health on Wednesday (30/1) launched a program related to the national strategic plan for bird flu control in Indonesia. This program is to prevent the spread of bird flu transmission in human and to increase the live expectancy of patients infected by this virus.
The “Implementation of the National Strategic Plan for Avian Influenza” (INSPAI) program is collaboration between the Commission of the European Community (EC) and the World Health Organization. This agreement was on December 13, 2007, and will last for three years with a budget of 13.5 million euros.
With WHO as the project manager, the Indonesian Ministry of Health and National Committee on Bird Flu Control and Influenza Pandemic Preparedness (Komnas FBPI) will be the main partners for the implementation of the project. The Ministry of Health and Komnas FBPI will also have representatives in the directive board to monitor and supervise this project.

There are four groups of activities in this project, which are improvement of clinical management particularly in hospitals (6.85 million euros), surveillance (2.3 million euros), health lifestyle (1.8 million euros), and research of the H5N1 virus (718,000 euros). “We are certain that this project could improve bird flu control efforts,” said Director General of Disease Control and Environmental Health of the Ministry of Health, Nyoman Kandun, in Jakarta yesterday.
Pierre Phillipe of EC said that since 2006, EC had allocated 245 million euros and countries of the European Union had allocated 168 million euros to control bird flu globally. EC is certain that collaboration of the global society, especially Asia, must be continued and strengthened. “We hope support from EC is useful for implementation of the national strategy to bird flu control,” he said.
Dr Salunke from WHO added that prevention of bird flu transmission in humans could be done through healthier traditional markets and strong surveillance in the form of collection, analysis, and dissemination of health data. Research needs to be improved to better understand bird flu viruses and for faster and more accurate diagnoses to increase the recovery rate of patients.
Senior Coordinator for the Influenza System Coordination for UN, David Nabarro, said that even though human cases of bird flu in the world is relatively low, everybody must still be cautious of the threat of a influenza pandemic.
Moreover, he added, this virus mutates quickly and is more virulent. “We must increase our research capabilities to understand how this virus mutates,” he said.
One challenge in overcoming bird flu, Nabarro continues, is on how to control the spread of this virus without badly affecting poor people who depends on poultry farming for their family’s nutrition and income. “We need a global health system that is integrated between countries,” he said.
According to the bird flu post in the Ministry of Health, the newest total of human death is 101 out of 124 cases, thus the case fatality rate is 81.4%. Last was Nas (32), citizen of Perumahan Medistrania, Cikupa sub-district, Tangerang district, Banten, hospitalized in Persahabatan Hospital in East Jakarta, who died.
This shows how urgent the need is for a bird flu vaccine that is both effective and safe in poultry and human. Executive Director of Komnas FBPI, Bayu Krisnamurthi, said there is an indication now that bird flu vaccines used in poultry farms in Indonesia are no longer effective because of the continuous virus mutation.
Meanwhile, there is no bird flu vaccine for human. Health Minister, Siti Fadilah Supari in a meeting with Commission IX of the Indonesian Parliament, last Tuesday, said that the vaccines now used in Indonesia are seasonal influenza vaccines that have a different subtype with the bird flu virus.
Previously the Indonesian government planned to work together with Baxter, a vaccine producer, but it was cancelled because Baxter required the Indonesian government to take full responsibility of all side effects that could be caused by the vaccine. (EVY)
Sumber : Kompas