AI - SUPARI INTERVIEW RAISES SCIENCE VS. POLITICS ANALYSIS

UNCLAS JAKARTA 003488 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP/MTS, G/AIAG AND OES USAID FOR ANE/CLEMENTS AND GH/CARROLL DEPT ALSO PASS TO HHS/WSTEIGER/ABHAT/MSTLOUIS AND HHS/NIH GENEVA FOR WHO/HOHMAN USDA/FAS/OSTA BRANT, ROSENBLUM USDA/APHIS ANNELLI E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TBIO AMED CASC EAGR AMGT PGOV ID SUBJECT: AI - SUPARI INTERVIEW RAISES SCIENCE VS. POLITICS ANALYSIS ¶1. (U) In a December 19 online interview in the journal "Nature", Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari reiterated her position that developed countries benefit from the sharing of avian influenza virus samples at the expense of poorer, developing countries (full text available at: http://emboj.org/news/2007/071219/full/450113 7a.html). Supari emphasized that there must be a system to track virus samples and that commercial companies seeking to create a vaccine from any sample must negotiate with that sample's source country. She stated that the key outstanding concession that Indonesia demands from the World Health Organization is that all shared virus samples be subject to a material transfer agreement (MTA). Supari praised the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data (GISAID),which she considered a "fair and transparent" mechanism for regulating genetic-sequencing databases because it includes a MTA. POLITICS VS. SCIENCE -------------- ¶2. (U) In a December 31 op-ed piece, Jakarta Post journalist Emmy Fitri, who has written several pieces on AI, questioned the timing and purpose of Supari's politically motivated stance (copy emailed to EAP/MTS and G/AIAG). Rather than playing the victim in front of the international community, Fitri suggested that the minister would better serve the country by using her political skills to secure funding from the parliament and provincial authorities to combat AI domestically. ¶3. (U) Fitri proposed that the top priority for preventing AI-related deaths should be public education on proper poultry handling. Despite living in a hotbed for germs and viruses, she added, Indonesians show little awareness of good sanitary practices. She blamed the gap on the government's failure to prioritize money and strategies to strengthen the health sector. If anything has to be politicized, she concluded, the GOI should use political diplomacy to raise awareness of the threat from AI and coordinate efforts to manage the human and health sectors. HUME