# 1859
NAMRU-2, the Naval Medical Research Unit (#2), was established in 1944, and over the past 64 years has been stationed at various locations in the Pacific Theatre. NAMRU-3 is located in Cairo, Egypt.
Over the past 6 decades NAMRU-2 has been headquartered in places such as Guam, Taiwan, Manila, and most recently Indonesia, and it has been credited with major breakthroughs in research, particularly on tropical diseases.
Over the past few years, bird flu has been a major focus of their work, although it isn't clear how much access they've had over the past year or so. Relations with the Indonesian government have been tenuous at best.
NAMRU-2's relationship with Indonesia has been further strained by the recent publication of Health Minister Supari's book charging the United States with trying to profit from the spread of bird flu.
Now comes a report by the Kyoto News Agency, carried by The Navy Times, that claims Indonesia has banned NAMRU-2 from working within their nation.
If true, this would constitute a major setback.
A Hat tip to Carol@SC on the Wiki for picking up this report.
Indonesia bans Navy medical research unit
Kyodo News Agency
Posted : Thursday Apr 10, 2008 7:10:53 EDT
JAKARTA, Indonesia — The Indonesian government has banned the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 2, or NAMRU-2 — which is studying infectious diseases in Southeast Asia, including bird flu — from operating in the country, an evening newspaper said Thursday. The reason behind the ban was not immediately clear.
Sinar Harapan daily reported that a note on the ban, signed by Triono Soendoro, director of the Health Research and Development Agency of the Health Ministry, had been circulated among several ministries.
“It [NAMRU-2] has been banned to operate here. Sorry, but I can’t comment further,” the newspaper quoted Soendoro as saying.
Health Ministry spokesman Soemardi also refused to confirm the report.
“I haven’t received any information about that,” he told Kyodo News.
The ban follows the publication of a book by Health Minister Siti Rahil Fadilah Supari, in which she accused the World Health Organization and the U.S. government of trying to profit from the spread of bird flu. NAMRU-2 began investigating the disease after initial cases were identified in Indonesia in 2004.
In the book, “It’s Time for the World to Change,” Supari claimed WHO laboratories forward avian influenza specimens to western countries that make vaccines and then profit from their sale back to the affected countries.
As of Tuesday, bird flu had infected at least 379 people in 14 countries since its re-emergence in December 2003. According to WHO data, 239 of them have died.
Indonesia leads the table with 107 deaths, followed by Vietnam with 52 and Egypt with 21.
The other affected countries are Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Djibouti, Iraq, Laos, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Thailand and Turkey.
The NAMRU-2 Detachment was established in Indonesia in 1970 and is one of the most advanced facilities of its kind in Southeast Asia. Its work was done in cooperation with and under the auspices of the Indonesian Health Research and Development Agency.
