FROM THE JAKARTA POST, JAKARTA, BANDUNG

The ASEAN Foundation, one arm of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has said it is time to turn to technology for help.

The foundation proposes using information and communications technology (ICT), particularly short message service (SMS), to prevent further outbreaks of the disease.

The idea is based on the successful application of ICT in Thailand and Vietnam to stop new bird flu cases in both humans and animals at village level. The foundation is now applying ICT for the same purpose in Laos and Cambodia.

The foundation's executive director, Apichai Sunchindah, said Thailand and Vietnam had been successful in dealing with bird flu through the use of information technology.

In Thailand, he said, one million volunteers -- equipped with cellular phones or computers -- were deployed at village level. They filed their reports via e-mail or text message to a central terminal for the government to follow up.

"With this system, people are involved and the government can map out the spread of bird flu to take sufficient measures," Sunchindah said on the sidelines of an international symposium on ICT for social development in Jakarta on Tuesday.

While Indonesia is struggling to contain bird flu, there have been no reports of new cases in Thailand or Vietnam this year, winning them praise from international communities.

Professor Felix Librero from the University of the Philippines, who has conducted intensive research on the use of text messages to pass on information to fight bird flu, and managing director of Malaysia's Southbound Sdn. bhd. Chin Saik Yoon, both agreed the method would work in Indonesia.

There are about 60 million cell phone users in the country.