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Keynote Address o f the Indonesian President, Dr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, at the Opening Ceremony of the High-Level Meeting on "Responsible Practices for Sharing Avian Influenza Viruses and Resulting Benefits, Jakarta, 28 March 2007
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Ministers,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear friends,
Let me begin by extending a very warm welcome to Jakarta to all of you, along with my very fervent hope that this important meeting will be crowned with success.
I stand before you today as someone who comes from a military background, where I spent many years learning about conventional military threats and strategy. However, as President, I have found out that the greatest threat to our well-being of my fellow citizens comes not in the form of conventional military attacks by a foreign military army, but in the form of enemy which cannot be seen by the naked eye, namely : the virus that causes infectious diseases. Indeed, more people have died from diseases than from military and ethnic conflicts. Tens of thousands of Indonesians have suffered from dengue fever, from tuberculosis, from malaria, and from HIV/AIDS.
Nothing is more worrying for us today than the spectre of avian flu pandemic. To date, avian influenza has infected 281 people. It has claimed the lives of 169 people around the world, including 68 Indonesians. We are of course still fortunate because the H5N1 virus has not found a way to mutate into a form that can be transmitted between humans. But if that mutation ever occurs, the consequences for all of us will be severe.
Three times in the last century, we saw the horrible onslaught wrought by flu pandemics. In 1918, the Spanish flu, the H1N1 strain, killed over 40 million people—some say even 100 million people. In 1957, the Asian Flu, the H2N2 strain, was estimated to have killed 2 million people. And in 1968, the Hong Kong flu, the H3N2 strain, is believed to have killed 1 million worldwide.
The occurrence of an avian flu pandemic in our time will be nothing short of a catastrophe. Just imagine : the tsunami that killed over 200,000 in Aceh in 2004 came to our shores and left in 30 minutes. A flu pandemic will NOT go back to the sea, but will continue to spread, infect and kill until it has no more human flesh to live on. Millions, if not tens of millions, around the world could die a tragic death from the pandemic.
And the economic and social consequences will be enormous. Trade, transportation, consumer confidence, tourism, investment, industry, agriculture will be paralyzed, because people will all be too frightened to move and to interact. One study by the Asian Development Bank predicts that in a worst case scenario, a pandemic could lead to world recession, where “growth in Asia would virtually stop”, and the global trade of goods and services could contract by 14 %, the equivalent of US$ 2.5 trillion.
It is quiet clear therefore that the avian flu is everybody’s problem. We have been alarmed that the virus has suddenly crossed the species barrier and H5N1 human cases have been found in many parts of the world : from Indonesia to Egypt, from Nigeria to Laos, from Vietnam to Azerbaijan.
Many scientists believe that the occurrence of the next pandemic, which happened 3 times last century, is not a question of “if”, but “when”.
It is therefore our duty to work together to ensure that a pandemic does not happen in our time. And it is our responsibility to ensure that all the nations of the world are prepared to prevent and fight it. This is everybody’s business, because if one is at risk, all is at risk.
I am therefore heartened to see this High-Level Meeting on Responsible Practices for Sharing Avian Influenza Viruses and Resulting Benefits take place here in Jakarta. I am pleased that we have managed to gather all the key stakeholders and actors concerned by the issue. We are very grateful that you have answered our call to address the important issues pertaining to international cooperation on sharing avian flu viruses.
Many countries affected by avian influenza are now working with the World Health Organisation to implement a national strategy with new response mechanisms. However, these efforts, and the response they can muster, are very uneven depending on the local capacity of the countries they are being deployed in.
Such a discrepancy can be harmful to global efforts to avoid a potential pandemic. As long as there is a loophole in the system, even the best protected countries and regions are not safe.
We therefore need to gear world preparedness and response mechanisms around a new paradigm, which puts equality between countries at the centre of our defence strategies. The deliberations in this High-
Level Meeting must therefore focus on realizing this equality by examining together, and in a holistic manner, all possible ways to bring all countries up to par through a more altruistic approach to sample and information sharing that we like to call the benefit sharing approaches and practices.
In organising this High-Level Meeting, our objective is to give the current fight against avian influenza a broader and more systematic dimension by fostering new approaches to the global campaign in a new spirit, based on greater solidarity.
We saw the need to follow up on and maintain the momentum after the Delhi Conference of Ministers of Health and Agriculture on Avian Influenza Control and Pandemic Preparedness last year, and to take preparedness one-step further.
Above all, we felt it is necessary to reiterate the commitments made then to collaborate transparently and to share in good faith all the available epistemological, technological and clinical knowledge on avian influenza.
We are glad that the WHO has published its Global Pandemic-Influenza Action Plan to Increase Vaccine Supply, which we must all support.
I would like to stress that winning the global health battle depends on empowering all countries to equitably develop their own preparedness and protection capacity for all infectious and life-threatening diseases. Encouraging home-grown research, laboratory and production capabilities inside these countries, and assisting them in the production of their own vaccines and drugs at affordable prices and in the development of their own prevention strategies, are the key to global pandemic preparedness. This is best achieved by using all the different resources available both within countries and internationally.
And this may require a fundamental change of mentality and approach, geared to benefit sharing framework in the context of win-win results.
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I hope that through this Meeting you will be able to have constructive discussions on an issue that is at the heart of our public security, human security and also national security. We place great hopes in your joint expertise and wisdom to help us avert the threats of avian influenza and influenza pandemic, and to foster a true spirit of generosity and solidarity in addressing common health hazards.
Finally, by saying Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, I now take great pleasure to declare this High-Level Meeting open.
Thank you.
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