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10 Dec 2007
A Dutch consortium, led by Wageningen International, signed a contract with the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV), to work on the control of Avian Influenza in Indonesia. The consortium cooperates intensively with Indonesian partners, and focuses on capacity building of field staff, improving the diagnostic capacity and developing strategies for the prevention and control of Avian Influenza.
The first outbreak of HPAI in Indonesia was detected in 2003 and now the disease has become endemic in almost all provinces. Whilst originally only an avian disease, Indonesia has experienced an increasing number of human infections and already 91 people died - the highest in any country in the world - as the result of the virus spreading from infected birds to humans.
In 2005 the Dutch and Indonesian Ministries of Agriculture decided to set up a technical partnership to control avian influenza infections in Indonesia.
In this framework, Wageningen International, the Central Institute for Animal Disease Control (CIDC) and the Animal Sciences Group (ASG) of Wageningen University and Research Centre, the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Utrecht and the Animal Health Service Deventer have been working together in Indonesia since 2005 with the Government and other partners to develop control strategies to combat the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). Field studies and research have been done into the spreading of the virus and efficacy of vaccines and vaccinations. Also laboratory staff and field workers have been trained to increase the capacity for diagnosis and implementation of control programmes.
In the new phase of the HPAI Indonesia – Dutch Partnership Programme, emphasis will be on the development of feasible ways to prevent further spreading of the virus and new outbreaks. One of the approaches that will be looked into is step-by-step control through zoning or compartmentalisation. A system which is also being discussed in the EU.
The overall goal of the partnership programme is to contribute to the containment of risks of HPAI for human and animal health in Indonesia. To this effect the programme will focus on six different intervention areas or programme modules, varying from national and regional strategy development to field studies, laboratory research and vaccine production with the private sector. Capacity building and institutional development will be the core of most of the six modules.
The cooperation is now being formalised and LNV has recently appointed a Dutch project coordinator to run the Partnership Operations Office in Jakarta, together with an Indonesian counterpart. The contract between the Wageningen International consortium and LNV has been signed on 10 December 2007. The ministry of Foreign Affairs co-funds the contract with an additional amount of €5.1 million until June 2010.
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