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Indonesia urged to do more to fight avian flu
Indonesia needs rapidly to double its spending
on avian flu in order to tackle the disease in birds and reduce the risk of its
spread to humans, according to new estimates by international
experts.
In the build-up to a donors' meeting sought by the
Indonesian government later this month, officials have calculated that the
country should spend at least $200m annually over the next three years.
That would help bolster
surveillance of the disease in animals and humans, promote selective
vaccination, culling, public education programmes and reinforce health
services.
The costs
highlight the extra foreign and domestic efforts seen as necessary in a nation
that has already been among the hardest hit by bird flu, and which experts see
among the most likely locations for the generation of a human pandemic
strain.
The estimates,
compiled in discussions between Indonesian experts and the World Bank, World
Health Organisation and the Food and Agriculture Organisation, contrast with
just $30m spent by the Indonesian government last year with virtually no
international support.
The
government has allocated almost twice as much in its own budget for this year,
at $50m. It has been pledged a similar amount during the year by multilateral
and bilateral grants.
Editor WorldPoultry
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