This project to address the challenges to delivery of veterinary services posed by the decentralised political system introduced in 2000, is a high priority for the Directorate General of Livestock Services in the Ministry of Agriculture of the Government of Indonesia
The project is on track, meeting most milestones either on or ahead of time. Some changes in timing were necessitated by AusAID providing $100,000 for emergency assistance to combat rabies in Bali through this project.
The discovery of rabies in people and dogs in Bali in 2008 possibly up to 8 months after it was introduced illustrates the need for greater coordination of veterinary, quarantine and human health services. The rabies situation appears to be worsening and spreading in eastern Indonesia. This represents a serious threat to Indonesians and to visitors to the region. The risk that infected animals, especially dogs on fishing or people-smuggling boats from that region may be introduced to northern Australia is also increasing.
This clearly emphasises the need for this project and particularly for objective 1 (developing a comprehensive INDOVETPLAN for Indonesia), which will allow systematic planning and preparedness for emergency animal disease outbreaks. Customising this objective to accommodate the Bali rabies situation has been worked into the project as seamlessly as possible.
Progress towards improving regional control programs for brucellosis in Timor, anthrax in the Eastern Islands and rabies in Flores (objective 2), is also going well, with two regional workshops held on each disease since the project began. These workshops have brought together stakeholders from central, provincial and district levels of government as well as relevant Australian experts, local postgraduate students and their university supervisors. For each disease, improving the control program is being approached both from a technical and economic perspective, with action afoot to develop options for improved control and subject them to prospective benefit cost analysis.
The use of local postgraduate students to carry out applied research supporting both objectives is an innovative feature of this project. Thirteen Masters and two PhD students are enrolled and completing their first year's course work at three Indonesian universities. Their research projects, due to start in August 2009, are in an advanced stage of planning with inputs from the Australian team, their university supervisors and local staff in their target districts.
Project Objective 3, which is about communicating learnings from the project, is relatively less advanced but will accelerate as the project progresses. There has been some opportunistic media coverage of various aspects, as well as extra participation at scientific conferences both by the Australian Team Leader in Indonesia and by the Indonesian Research Coordinator in Australia.
Improving our knowledge of these zoonotic diseases in Indonesia, especially rabies this year, is enhancing the capacity of Australian agencies and veterinarians to design surveillance and incursion response programs and the capacity of staff to recognise and manage infected animals. The project supported a visit by the Bali rabies epidemiologist to present information on the Bali rabies outbreak at the Australian Veterinary Association's annual conference in Darwin, and this was received with great interest.

Major progress was made in this project in 2009/10 with most original activities scheduled for the period completed. A second AusAID enhancement of $250,000 passed to this project, to pilot innovative approaches to the control of rabies in Bali with application for other transboundary animal disease control programs throughout Indonesia.
There is growing awareness among senior Indonesian veterinary administrators of the need for improved cost sharing and decision making between different levels of government to effectively confront transboundary and zoonotic animal diseases. This has been starkly demonstrated by the rabies outbreak in Bali, where both health and agriculture officials from eleven different governments (nine district, one province, and the central government) have responsibility for funding and implementing different elements of the response. Integrated and timely decision making and budget provision are very difficult. The current development of regulations and orders under a new national Law on Animal Production and Animal Health will be informed by insights from this project. More fundamental changes regarding roles and responsibilities of Indonesian government levels may require further national legal changes in financial areas relating to decentralisation which are outside the control of the Department of Agriculture.
This awareness has flowed from project activities under the INDOVETPLAN development objective, i.e. annual INDOVETPLAN workshops, Australian study tours for senior Indonesian veterinarians, and training in integrated Incident Control System (ICS) and its pilot implementation for rabies in Bali. The planned conduct of exotic disease response exercises for FMD has been deferred to 2011 as the Bali rabies outbreak has provided a real life case study. The extra funding provided to pilot new approaches to Bali rabies has required significant project management resources.
The second project objective of improving regional disease control programs has proceeded through the study programs of Indonesian veterinarians undertaking Masters and PhD studies at three Indonesian universities. Thirteen of these Masters students will finish their courses and research theses in June 2010. The planned series of regional disease control workshops (to be held this year on Brucellosis in Timor at Camplong, Anthrax in NTT and NTB on Sumba, and Rabies in Flores at Ende) has been deferred from May 2010 to September 2010 at the request of NTT animal health authorities. Three further Masters students and two PhD students should finish their studies in 2011. The third project objective of communicating key project learnings is proceeding through the writing and distribution of trip and training reports and by workshop and conference presentations.
The $250,000 supplementary allocation from AusAID has been used to pilot innovative approaches to rabies control in Bali. Building on the successful establishment of rabies diagnostic capacity at the Denpasar regional veterinary laboratory (BBV) in early 2009 (funded by a previous AusAID grant of $100,000 in F/Y 09), training of field staff has been carried out in collection of dog brain samples by the straw technique, and provision of inexpensive field sampling kits and funds for the transport of specimens to and their testing at the BBV. This has resulted in a flow of specimens from all over Bali to the laboratory, greatly improving the rabies surveillance capacity and the cost-effective confirmation of infected dogs, which impacts strongly on whether or not people require rabies treatment.
Extra training and implementation funding has allowed the setting up of ten ICS Rabies Control Centres (Posko Rabies) at the provincial and all nine district Livestock Services. Some funding has been applied to pilot improving community participation. A number of rabies awareness programs, including TV ads, CDs for schools and traditional dance performances with rabies messages, have been produced and run. Of these, the traditional dance performances were reported to produce the biggest change in people's behaviour, significantly increasing the numbers of dogs presented for rabies vaccination. Funds provided to village leaders to accurately document the dog populations in their villages led to an underestimate of dog numbers compared with other estimates, but may have increased their own awareness of the need to support the rabies program. Dog catching training using locally made catching poles has improved the numbers of villagers able to support a mass dog vaccination campaign, but the catching poles have proved to be only an adjunct to the use of large nets, which appear to be the best way to catch semi-wild Bali street dogs.
Most importantly, the project has funded and participated in a number of workshops on rabies in Bali, leading to greater cooperation between the Bali Provincial Livestock Services and the Bali Animal Welfare Association.

Further progress was made in this project in 2010/11 with most activities originally scheduled for the period completed and some extra visits and workshops.
Activities under the INDOVETPLAN development objective included an annual INDOVETPLAN workshop, an Australian study tour for senior Indonesian veterinarians and lawyers, and integrated Incident Control System (ICS) piloting for rabies in Bali. The planned exotic disease response exercise for FMD was modified to observation of and feedback after a simulation of FMD at Salatiga, Central Java, run by DGLS. In late 2011 a further FMD simulation may be held by DGLAHS in Medan, North Sumatra.
During the year there was a major restructure in the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture while implementing the national Law 18/2009 on Animal Production and Animal Health. This slowed down outcome delivery under the project's INDOVETPLAN objective due to many key staff changes. Nevertheless there is now increased awareness amongst more senior Indonesian veterinary administrators of the need for improved cost sharing and decision making between different levels of government to effectively confront trans-boundary and zoonotic animal diseases. The current development of regulations and orders under this law is being informed by insights from this project. There was also acceptance that significant parts of Australia's AUSVETPLAN could easily be adapted to create many key resources for a more complete INDOVETPLAN. Development of this will be core business for the Indonesian central government for some years to come.
The second project objective, of improving regional disease control programs for anthrax in NTB and NTT, rabies in Flores and brucellosis in Timor, has proceeded through the study programs of Indonesian veterinarians undertaking Masters and PhD studies at three Indonesian universities. Thirteen Masters students finished their courses and research theses and graduated by December 2010. Regional disease control workshops were held in September 2010 on Brucellosis in Timor at Camplong, Timor, Anthrax in NTT and NTB at Tambolaka, Sumba, and Rabies in Flores at Moni, Flores, and on Anthrax writing up in Mataram, Lombok in February 2011. Students presented their research findings at the relevant workshops. Three further Masters students and two PhD students should finish their studies later in 2011.
One Masters student carried out analysis of Bali dogs' home ranges, using radio- tracking equipment and methods provided with assistance from the Australasian Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre, to allow better implementation of rabies control in the Bali street dog population. Another compared local and international laboratory kits for assessing the serological response of dogs in Bali to two different rabies vaccines. A third carried out studies of the epidemiology of anthrax in Bima district of Sumbawa island NTB especially in relation to soil characteristics. One PhD student has carried out a comparative phylogenetic analysis of Indonesian rabies virus isolates and has found that Bali isolates most closely resemble those from Sulawesi, and then Flores, indicating a possible source for the Bali rabies outbreak. The other PhD student is proceeding well with her study of the immunogenic and protective effects of three rabies vacccines.
Provincial and district staff in target areas are using all the students' research findings to improve their long term disease control strategies.
The third project objective of communicating key project learnings is proceeding through the writing and distribution of trip and training reports and by workshop and conference presentations. Strong linkages have been maintained with ACIAR AH 2006/156 through a joint workshop on Risk Assessment methodology held in Bali in July 2010, which led to a further workshop on Rabies Risk Assessment for NTB in April 2011. Personnel from other related projects have been invited to project workshops, allowing strong linkages with the new major AusAID project on Emerging Infectious Diseases, as well as with FAO, WHO and ILRI.
Further input to the fight against rabies in Bali was given throughout the year. The information management system was refined, and surveillance activities were supported strongly until funds were exhausted. Considerable input was provided to several workshops on rabies in Bali, leading to greater cooperation between the Bali Provincial Livestock Services and the Bali Animal Welfare Association as well as other players. This culminated in a joint government /NGO mass dog rabies vaccination which covered most of Bali, the results of which will be carefully analysed with Indonesian colleagues.
The extra involvement to pilot new approaches to Bali rabies has required significant extra project management resources and was helped by an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development veterinary volunteer who worked with the Bali Provincial Livestock Service and this project for seven months.