Bird flu: Jakarta collaborates with the WHO, previously accused of "exploitation"
Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Indonesia has sent 12 samples of blood infected with avian influenza to the World Health Organisation (WHO), after receiving a guarantee of rights over any vaccine that would be produced from these. This has been reported by health minister Siti Fadilah Supari, until recently in heated arguments with the United Nations body.
The Indonesian archipelago is the country hardest hit by the H5N1 virus, with 105 fatalities. Since January of 2007, the government has refused to send infected samples to the WHO, accusing the organisation and pharmaceutical companies of profiting by creating vaccines that are too expensive for developing countries. It is still not clear how and when collaboration with the WHO will be resumed: the experts hope that the decision will permit the overcoming of an obstacle that has undermined research to combat the virus on a global level. Avian flu is now endemic among birds in Indonesia, and the authorities are unable to control its spread. Until now no cases of human-to-human contagion have been recorded, but the experts do not exclude the possibility, as soon as the virus mutates.
The tension between minister Supari and the WHO reached a peak at the beginning of February, with the publishing of his book on avian influenza: It's Time for the World to Change. The volume accuses the United States and World Health Organisation of "manipulating" samples of the virus to produce chemical weapons and vaccines to be sold at prices prohibitive to developing countries. Supari's thesis was immediately rejected by the WHO, and the United States described it as "unfounded". The protests have probably been even greater than those expressed publicly, and Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered a recall of the English version. "It has to be rewritten", is his only explanation.
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