TANGERANG OFFICIALS WELCOME AVIAN INFLUENZA ASSISTANCE

UNCLAS JAKARTA 000686 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 KPAO ID SUBJECT: TANGERANG OFFICIALS WELCOME AVIAN INFLUENZA ASSISTANCE 1.(U) Tangerang district's Bupati Ismet Iskondar thanked Ambassador Hume and Singapore's Deputy Chief of Mission Lim Hong Huai for contributions to the Tangerang Trilateral Project during an April 2 discussion on avian influenza. District and municipal officials asked the Ambassador to help farmers manage the disease in poultry, emphasizing that authorities are providing inadequate supplies of poultry vaccine. One official explained that residents need 11 million doses of poultry vaccine but had received only one million doses from the government. The Ambassador remarked that while authorities have made progress to control the disease, considerable risk remained due to physical living space, economic constraints and current practices of raising poultry. Local people depend on poultry as a source of income and protein but lack space to keep birds separate from living quarters. Tangerang likewise lacks sufficient space to separate bird markets from proximity of residential, hospital and retail areas. ¶2. (U) While in Tangerang, the Ambassador toured a live bird market, a duck farm and the avian influenza referral hospital. Hospital officials praised the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit (NAMRU-2) for its contributions to influenza surveillance and expressed interest in greater collaboration with the United States. Officials also emphasized the need for increased laboratory capacity to meet current demand for timely lab analysis. ¶3. (U) Tangerang residents and journalists greeted the Ambassador at every site, many waiting to take his photograph or briefly speak with him. Numerous local papers featured stories of the visit and/or carried photos of the Ambassador's stop at a local bird market. Several articles highlighted U.S. assistance for avian influenza control efforts in Tangerang. ¶4. (U) Jakarta's international airport is located in the Tangerang district. Tangerang has had more human AI cases (25 of 132 cases) than any other Indonesian district. Since October 2007, eleven of the last 24 cases have occurred in Tangerang, thereby increasing concern for addressing the avian influenza problem. HUME