Indonesia says targets 100 million dollars for bird flu fight

JAKARTA, Sep 1 (Reuters) Indonesia hopes to secure about 100 million dollars to fight bird flu next year, the vice president said today, after criticism the country is not doing enough to control the disease.

Indonesia has the world's highest death toll from bird flu and scientists and even the World Bank have called on the government to step up the fight to control a disease that is endemic in almost all provinces.

Experts said public ignorance, along with official ineptitude and lack of money, are hampering efforts to stamp out the disease in the densely populated country of 220 million people.

''I asked for certainty from the World Bank and they asked for certainty from our budget. So, both of us ascertained to gather at least 100 million dollars for next year,'' Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said today.

It was not immediately clear whether this meant the government's financial commitment in the budget to fight the H5N1 bird flu virus would be raised.

The World Bank has been urging Jakarta to increase its budget after it earmarked 46.5 million dollars to fight bird flu in 2007, down from 57.37 million dollars slated for this year.

According to government data, together with donor contributions, Indonesia plans to spend about 93 million dollars this year in fighting bird flu.

Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie said last month Indonesia had not received ''a single cent'' pledged by international donors at a global bird flu conference in Beijing in January.

The donors promised 1.9 billion dollars for the global fight and the World Health Organisation has also criticised some governments for their failure to pay up.

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