JAKARTA - The United States has announced a $US2.5 million grant to help Indonesia fight an outbreak of polio that has infected 269 children since it resurfaced in March. Announcing the aid, US Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt urged Indonesia to carry out another round of nationwide immunisations before the end of the year to halt the spread of the crippling virus.
"It is important to immunise every child, whether they are sick or whether they are well," Mr Leavitt said after after meeting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta.
Indonesia's Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari says the government was likely to out a third nationwide vaccination drive next month in line with a suggestion from the World Health Organisation.
The government last month held the second and supposedly final round of a nationwide immunisation campaign to eradicate polio, targeting more than 23 million children aged under five. Polio resurfaced in March, a decade after it was believed to have been eradicated in Indonesia. It has now spread to six provinces.
The World Health Organization on Tuesday reported 34 new polio cases in Indonesia, bringing the country's known total to 100. One of the new cases was confirmed on Sumatra, which until last week was polio-free.
Indonesia's nationwide drive last week to vaccinate about 24 million young children against a spreading polio outbreak was largely successful though some parents continued to resist, health officials said Monday.
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JAKARTA - The United States has announced a $US2.5 million grant to help Indonesia fight an outbreak of polio that has infected 269 children since it resurfaced in March. Announcing the aid, US Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt urged Indonesia to carry out another round of nationwide immunisations before the end of the year to halt the spread of the crippling virus.
