According to this article, the Health Ministry of Indonesia has stopped publicising bird flu fatalities as part of a campaign to shift media focus to successes in battling the disease. From now on, as stated here, deaths will be announced in clusters, a few times a year. Information on avian influenza as the probable cause of death is no longer available on the government website, which has been stripped of updates on deaths. This article observes that this restriction seems to leave the public without important accurate information.


However, the article reports that Indonesia will continue to provide information to the World Health Organization (WHO), though it is unwilling to provide virus samples to enhance vaccine research unless an agreement about vaccine provision to those in economic poverty can be reached.


This new emphasis on restriction of information does not appear to violate international health regulations, according to the article, but the lack of transparency "has forced people to rely on word of mouth and rumours. It has also raised fears that deaths could be covered up, especially because the government has been exclusively responsible for carrying out genetic sequencing needed for diagnosis and risk assessment since its stand-off with WHO." As stated here, relatives of victims are still shown official bird flu test results almost immediately.


The article highlights a case in which family members' claims versus government workers' and representatives' claims on reporting the cause of death are at odds in the case of a rural death, exemplifying, according to the article, potential confusion and risk of complacency amongst the rural populace.

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