RI calls for fairness on bird flu vaccines, drugs

The Indonesian government has called for a fairer mechanism for the distribution of bird flu vaccines and medicines, saying that developing countries worst affected by the virus had not been offered favorable terms in the deal.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Wednesday that developing countries were fighting a losing battle against avian influenza because of the inequalities in the distribution of resources.

"We need to gear the world's preparedness and response mechanism around a new paradigm, which puts equality between countries at the center of our defense strategy," Yudhoyono said while addressing health officials from 18 countries at a gathering to discuss methods of sharing bird flu samples.

Yudhoyono said winning the global battle against avian influenza would depend on empowering all countries to equitably develop their own preparedness and protection capacities.

"The key to global preparedness is encouraging home-grown research ... and assisting (developing nations) in the production of their own vaccines and drugs at affordable prices," Yudhoyono said.

The Health Ministry has demanded the World Health Organization change its 50-year-old virus sharing system, in which it collects regular flu samples from around the world and makes them available to vaccine makers and related parties.

Indonesia, which has recorded 69 avian influenza-related fatalities, the highest rate of any country to detect the virus, received the support of several developing countries when it decided to suspend its sharing of virus samples.

The suspension came into effect after an Australian drugmaker produced a vaccine using the Indonesian strain of the bird flu virus without Jakarta's consent.

Indonesia received sharp criticism for its decision, especially from scientists, who said that without the latest specimens they would be unable to monitor mutations in the virus.

On Tuesday, the Health Ministry eventually agreed to resume sending bird flu samples to laboratories overseas, but warned that the samples should not be used to develop commercial bird flu vaccines.

On Wednesday, Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said the government's decision to stop sending its samples was aimed at highlighting to the world the existing inequalities between developed and developing countries.

"Ninety percent of stocks of vaccines and medicines for bird flu are controlled by Europe and North America, which hold only 10 percent of the world's population," she told conference delegates.

In the event of a pandemic, she said, the majority of developing countries would have no access to vaccines during and possibly after the first wave.

The U.S. government welcomed Indonesia's decision to resume the sharing of avian influenza samples.

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that the Indonesian government's decision constituted a positive step forward in international cooperation and bettered the world's ability to prepare for an influenza pandemic.

"No nation can go it alone. If a country is to protect its own people, it must work together with other nations to protect the people of the world," Leavitt said. (The Jakarta Post)