INDONESIA - JULY 17 AVIAN INFLUENZA (AI) UPDATE

UNCLAS JAKARTA 001379 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR EAP/MTS, G/AIAG, L/DL, EAP/EX, AND OES/IHA USAID FOR ANE/CLEMENTS AND GH/CARROLL DEPT ALSO PASS TO HHS/WSTEIGER/MSTLOUIS AND HHS/NIH DEPT ALSO PASS TO DOJ for OFL GENEVA FOR WHO/HOHMAN USDA/FAS/OSTA BRANT, ROSENBLUM USDA/APHIS ANNELLI E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TBIO EAGR AMGT PGOV ID KLIG SUBJECT: INDONESIA - JULY 17 AVIAN INFLUENZA (AI) UPDATE REFTEL: A) Jakarta 1257 ¶1. (SBU) Summary. A World Health Organization (WHO) official verified on July 16 that Indonesia reported a new confirmed case of avian influenza (AI). At a July 16 meeting with Tangerang Trilateral project officials, Dr. Gindo Simanjuntak, Executive Secretary, confirmed that the USDA-funded baseline survey began this week in Tangerang municipality and expressed hope that USDA and the Government of Singapore (GOS) will provide new funding for 2009. End Summary. -------------- MOH Notifies WHO of New Case -------------- ¶2. (SBU) On July 16, Post received information about a new confirmed case of H5N1 in a 38 year old male from Tangerang municipality who died on July 10. A WHO official confirmed that the Ministry of Health (MOH) met the International Health Regulation (IHR) reporting requirement and further stated that the WHO will update their website after the MOH posts the case information on the MOH website. Indonesia now reports 136 cases of AI with 111 deaths to the WHO. ¶3. (SBU) At a July 8 meeting with WHO officials, Dr. Subhash Salunke, WHO Representative informed us Minister Supari assured him that Indonesia will comply with the IHR in notifying WHO but will only report cases to the media on a monthly basis. -------------- TANGERANG TRILATERAL UNVEILS 2009 PLAN -------------- ¶4. (SBU) At a July 11 coordination meeting hosted by Tangerang Trilateral Project, Dr. Gindo Simanjuntak, Executive Secretary, presented a 2009 budget proposal of approximately $273,000 to USDA for extending the baseline survey into Tangerang district, and a request to the GOS for $776,446 for ongoing project activities such as training of private medical providers and community workers. A Singaporean government official stated there are no plans to provide new funding as 2008 carryover money is available to fund 2009 project activities. To date, the project has yet to receive 2008 funding from the Indonesian government. ¶5. (SBU) According to Dr. Simanjuntak, the USDA-funded KAP (knowledge, attitudes, and practices) baseline survey finally began on July 14 in Tangerang Municipality after completing necessary revisions to the survey questionnaire. Trained enumerators from the local government agriculture and health offices will survey approximately 7200 respondents during a three week period. Mapping of key physical structures such as hospitals, wet markets, poultry collector farms, and case households using global positioning system (GPS) provided by USDA concluded in May. ¶6. (U) A July 16 article in Koran Tempo, an Indonesian daily, reported that the Regent of Tangerang District, Ismet Iskandar, has allocated 1.5 billion rupiah, approximately $161,300, to build laboratory and isolation rooms in Tangerang Hospital. This funding will allow Tangerang hospital to install a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machine, critical in laboratory H5N1 diagnosis, purchased with Singaporean funds and in storage for the past year due to lack of laboratory space. HUME