June 28, 2005

Indonesia tightens anti-bird flu measures

Indonesia would tighten measures to control bird flu by widening poultry culling in outbreak zones.

Indonesia's normal strategy for tackling H5N1 outbreaks reportedly involved killing only visibly ill birds and vaccinating the remainder, which was not in line with international animal disease control protocols that required mass culling of all birds within a specific radius.

Despite the government's change in strategy, Indonesia still faces challenges in its battle against bird flu.

Indonesia reportedly allocated only 0.72 percent of total gross domestic product to the health sector in 2002.

Also, the majority of Indonesia's population are poor farmers who resist official anti-H5N1 poultry culling measures because they consider government compensation inadequate.