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Save the Children Helping Families Respond to Avian Flu Threat
Banda Aceh, Indonesia
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Save the Children is helping local partners spray the chicken coups and surrounding areas of 759 chicken farms in Bireun district of Aceh Province. |
(April 17, 2006) - Families in Aceh Province, Indonesia, who are still recovering from the devastating tsunami of a year ago, have a new concern—avian influenza.
And once again throughout the region Save the Children is working to help children and families meet the latest health challenge.
The H5N1 virus, also known as avian influenza or bird flu, is spreading throughout Asia infecting both animals and, so far, in a small number of cases, adults and children.
In Indonesia, the number of people killed by avian influenza has risen to 31 as of April 17, according to the World Health Organization, which has reported 109 deaths worldwide since 2003. Most human cases of the disease have been traced to direct contact with infected birds, and a high percentage of infected individuals have been under 21. Children in families that raise poultry are especially vulnerable to the virus since these children frequently are in direct contact with chickens as they help their parents tend the flock and prepare the poultry for sale or cooking.
World health experts fear that the virus might mutate and develop the ability to pass easily from human to human, possibly triggering a global pandemic. Asian countries recently agreed to speed preparations for a possible pandemic by upgrading laboratories and monitoring programs and training military officials for possible quarantine duty.
Save the Children is playing a lead role in producing and distributing posters and leaflets to inform about how to identify, report infected poultry and how to protect against the virus.
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| Save the Children is playing a lead role in producing and distributing posters and leaflets to inform about how to identify, report infected poultry and how to protect against the virus. |
In response to the growing concern over the virus, Save the Children is working to protect both people and poultry throughout Indonesia. The agency is playing a lead role among humanitarian organizations and United Nations agencies in producing posters and leaflets to inform consumers and poultry producers about how to identify and report infected poultry and how to protect both humans and animals against the virus. The agency is working closely with the government of Indonesia and its key ministries in distributing the vital information.
“We want to make sure farmers know how to protect themselves and their poultry against the virus and that they can identify the symptoms of the virus in their poultry,” said Husaini Ismail, who heads Save the Children’s livelihoods program in Aceh Province. “In addition, we want to educate consumers that it is still safe to eat properly cooked chickens and eggs. There are still many people making their livelihoods from the poultry trade. We must balance these messages.”
In Aceh Province, where Save the Children has assisted tens of thousands of families as part of its tsunami recovery programs, the agency also is supporting hundreds of poultry farmers in dealing with the virus threat.
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| In North Aceh and Lhokseumawe, Save the Children plans to expand its efforts and support the spraying of chicken coups and surrounding areas of 144 additional farms. |
The agency, for example, has helped local partners spray the chicken coups and surrounding areas of 813 chicken farms in Bireun, Banda Aceh, Sabang, and Aceh Besar districts of Aceh Province. In North Aceh and Lhokseumawe and surrounding areas, Save the Children has sprayed disinfectant in chicken coops at 144 additional farms.
The Indonesian government is providing vaccinations for poultry. Any infected chickens are culled and compensation is paid (approximately $1.50 per bird.) At present none of the poultry producers supported by Save the Children have reported any bird illness or death.
“Working in cooperation with the Indonesian government, the United Nations and many supporting non-governmental organizations, it is our hope that these initiatives will prevent local poultry farmers from having any problems with avian influenza,” Husaini Ismail said.
