INDONESIA - TANGERANG AI UPDATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000302 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE 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: INDONESIA - TANGERANG AI UPDATE REF: A) Jakarta 137 B) Jakarta 126 ¶1. (SBU) Summary. With the spiking number of cases (eight) occurring in Tangerang in the past three months, key donor stakeholders are increasingly focusing on Avian Influenza (AI) surveillance and prevention efforts in Tangerang. The Tangerang district governor recently established an AI task force, reporting hotlines and will be opening a AI command center. Embassy officials from USAID, CDC, USDA and the Regional Emerging Diseases Intervention (REDI) Center participated in a series of meetings on January 31 with key officials from the Government of Indonesia, the Government of Singapore and donor stakeholders. During January 22-24, USDA/APHIS and the National Committee on Avian Influenza Control and Pandemic Preparedness (KOMNAS) co-sponsored a three-day Live Bird Market Workshop and developed national strategies for restructuring bird markets and poultry distribution chain. End Summary. -------------- --- TASK FORCES ESTABLISHED, CRISIS CENTER ANNOUNCED -------------- -------------- ¶2. The Jakarta Post reported on February 9 that the governor of Tangerang regency directed officials to open a bird flu crisis center to curb the spread of avian influenza in the regency. Tangerang officials told us that the center will be a command and control center that will coordinate AI response activities within the local government. Thus far they have established an official task force to coordinate local activities and a hotline for AI case reporting in poultry in the district. Since November 2007, eight of the last 15 cases in Indonesia occurred in Tangerang, thereby creating pressure for the local government to act quickly. -------------- RAMPING UP ANIMAL CONTROL IN TANGERANG -------------- ¶3. (U) On January 21, we met with the United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF) and USAID and other USG funded partners including the World Health Organization (WHO),Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),REDI Center and the Community Based Avian Influenza Control Project (CBAIC) to organize an intensified response to increasing numbers of Avian Influenza cases in 
Tangerang. On January 31, the same stakeholders joined officials from the Singaporean Government, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) at a Tangerang Trilateral Secretariat meeting that was called to help accelerated government SIPDIS and stakeholder activities in Tangerang. 4 (U) FAO began profiling commercial poultry operations in Tangerang, as part of their overall West Java commercial poultry profiling activity to better understand risk factors in the commercial sector. With funding from USAID, FAO/MOA will train 24 new Participatory Disease Surveillance and Response (PDSR) officers from Tangerang city and district (12 each),bringing the total to 40 officers. In the meantime, Tangerang will support increased workload through a combination of approved overtime and PDSR officers loaned from neighboring districts. In the past two weeks, USAID sent 40 additional disinfection kits to Tangerang with plans to replenish supplies. ¶5. (U) USDA/APHIS, KOMNAS and the Tangerang Trilateral Secretariat co-sponsored a January 22-24 Live Bird Market Workshop to formulate national strategies to restructure wet markets including a pilot Tangerang market. As part of the Tangerang Trilateral project, USDA/APHIS is also funding a baseline survey for the Tangerang district to identify current wet markets, poultry slaughterhouses, commercial farms and prevailing practices. -------------- HUMAN HEALTH ACTIVITIES INTENSIFIED -------------- ¶6. (U) WHO committed to expanding human surveillance activities in Tangerang; training of primary health care workers, and JAKARTA 00000302 002 OF 002 restructuring of wet markets to reduce environmental risk to humans. WHO, FAO, and CBAIC are developing a uniform reporting format to integrate poultry and human surveillance data to promote early detection and treatment of human AI cases. -------------- COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND OUTREACH -------------- ¶7. (U) The Tangerang task force informed FAO that the district plans to launch a public awareness campaign in 36 sub-districts and the city is conducting a massive disinfection campaign on February 15-16. The district is distributing a letter with guidance for raising of poultry in residential areas (e.g. caging) to be followed by a local government decree to enforce the guidance. The task force indicated that both the city and district want to reorganize and improve hygiene at markets and that WHO and USDA will pilot activities in one market each, noting that Tangerang has 16 markets operating seven days per week and 22 village markets that operate three days per week. The task force has met with officials of the MOA, which will be providing technical support for the project. ¶8. (U) USAID's CBAIC program is sending an instant text messaging system (SMS) alert to 150 of its 200 Community AI Coordinators in Tangerang. The message alerts the Coordinators that the virus is active in Tangerang and reminds them to implement key actions, such as reporting and avoiding contact with poultry. On January 27, USAID launched a three month television and radio public service announcement (PSA) campaign with key control messages. Five national TV stations will air two PSAs for three months. In addition, three local radio stations will air PSAs in Tangerang as well as in other endemic districts. ¶9. (U) CARE, Indonesia through a grant from CDC, plans to conduct a baseline Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices (KAP) survey in Tangerang Municipality. UNICEF is expanding their school-based AI education campaign into Tangerang. -------------- CHALLENGES AHEAD -------------- ¶10. (SBU) The Tangerang Secretariat with support from Singapore and the USG through the REDI Center and other funded partners has made progress in organizing and coordinating activities in the District and Municipality of Tangerang. Donors are intensifying activities in an effort to get the disease under control. However, the lack of GOI funding continues to restrict full implementation of the Trilateral project. According to a Singapore official, District officials can use Singaporean funding to cover local operating costs until the Tangerang Secretariat is able to secure its funding from GOI. With the recent expansion of activities, the Tangerang Secretariat will be challenged to maintain close communication and SIPDIS coordination among the many stakeholders in order to move the pilot project forward. HEFFERN