Richel Dursin

JAKARTA, Feb 24 2007 (IPS) – Not content with the government s public awareness campaign against bird flu, a group of parents in Bekasi regency has taken the initiative in educating the poor and the marginalised about the deadly disease.
The government s campaign against bird flu does not reach the people at the grassroots level, said Rulie Bambang, head of the Jami iyyah Communication Forum, an association of parents of some 8,000 children studying in 10 prominent Al-Azhar Islamic schools in Bekasi, West Java province.

Earlier this month, the forum organised a talk show on avian influenza featuring Lula Kamal, a medical doctor and actress with the Indonesia National Committee for Avian Influenza Control and Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (Komnas FBPI). The audience included female members of the association, school drivers, students and teachers.

We hope to share with our neighbours the knowledge that we have so that there would be no more bird flu deaths, said Antari Loemaksono, one of the parents attending the talk show.

Before the four-hour talk show began at the school in Kemang Pratama, the audience watched the film titled, Race against the Killer Flu. The film, in English, carried subtitles in the Bahasa Indonesia language.

The talk show addressed basic information about avian influenza. Kamal, for instance, explained to the audience that the H5NI is a highly pathogenic strain of the avian influenza virus, which causes disease in birds, and cats. In rare cases, she added, the virus can also spread to humans.
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She also instructed the audience not to touch sick or dying poultry. If they do, they should immediately wash their hands with soap and seek medical help if they develop a fever with flu-like symptoms.

Chicken and eggs are safe to eat, but should be cooked well, she said, advising the audience to pass on the message to their maids and cooks. Kamal also described the clinical symptoms of the disease in birds and in humans.

After Kamal did her slide presentation, she was bombarded questions.

Why is bird flu present in Indonesia, but not in other countries? asked a student. Which part of our body is affected by the H5N1 virus? asked another. What is the difference between H5N1 virus and HIV? one student wanted to know.

Can vaccination alone stop the outbreak of the virus among birds? asked a housewife. How do humans get infected with the H5N1 virus? asked another woman.

According to the mothers who attended the forum, the government s current bird flu public awareness campaign falls short in educating the poor who usually keep poultry in their homes.

The government relies too much on television campaigns, when in fact not all people in the villages have a television set, Rulie argued. But even if they do, Indonesian viewers switch to other channels during commercial breaks.

In September 2006, the Indonesian government launched a four-month bird flu awareness campaign. Using television and radio spots, flyers and billboards, the campaign focused on four messages: do not touch sick or dying birds, wash hands and utensils with soap before eating or cooking. separate poultry from humans. go immediately to a health clinic in case fever with flu-like symptoms.

However, the government campaign is considered ineffective and no other country has counted more human deaths than Indonesia. The problem is exacerbated by the refusal of many local governments to carry out mass culling and the country s limited resources to compensate farmers.

Across Asia the bird flu virus has been met with the mass slaughter of millions of birds since it first surfaced late 2003 causing hardship for those that depend poultry rearing for a livelihood. It has also caused 167 human deaths worldwide.

By inviting mostly mothers and school drivers to the talk show, the forum hoped that it would be able to help prevent the spread of avian influenza in the country. The Al-Azhar schools in Bekasi regency and municipality currently have around 100 drivers who pick up students in the morning and drop them home in the afternoon.

Mothers can help disseminate information about bird flu prevention, Rulie said. Members of her organisation hold a meeting every Wednesday to follow up on weekly social service programmes, including efforts to combat bird flu.

The talk show, according to Rulie, was only the first step in her association s stride towards fighting bird flu.

After the talk show, we will orient garbage collectors and street vendors about bird flu. They are our first targets because they get in touch with a lot of people. Besides, most of them live in areas where many people keep birds and chicken, she said.

Bayu Krisnamurthi, chief executive of Komnas FBPI, a ministry-level committee that coordinates actions aimed at controlling bird flu, acknowledged that the government still has more work to do and needs to reach out to more people in its fight against bird flu. The war continues. We will work to improve all of our bird flu control and pandemic preparedness programmes, including public awareness, Krisnamurthi said.

Indonesia reported its first case of H5N1 infection in poultry in August 2003 in Pekalongan, West Java and in Tangerang, Banten province. In July 2005, the first human case was found in Tangerang.

On Feb. 11, a 20-year-old woman and a 9-year-old boy were reported to have died of bird flu in Garut regency, West Java. In Bekasi alone, 19 people were declared to have died of bird flu, prompting health authorities to consider the regency as vulnerable to a bird flu pandemic.

The ministry of health has recorded 83 bird flu cases nationwide. Bird flu cases have been found in 30 of Indonesia s 33 provinces, prompting experts to raise concerns over a possible avian influenza pandemic in the fourth most populous country in the world.

More people will die if public awareness about the disease is lacking, said Sabaruddin Djamal, head of the Waqaf Al Muhajirien Foundation, which is in charge of Al-Azhar Islamic Schools of Jakapermai and Kemang Pratama in Bekasi.

According to health official Nyoman Kandun, the government is having a hard time convincing people of the dangers of keeping poultry in their homes. Our fear is that the H5N1 avian influenza virus could mutate or obtain new genetic material, allowing it to spread more easily among humans and potentially spark a global pandemic, he said.