The heads of National Medicines Authorities from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) announced the Jakarta Declaration during their first meeting in Jakarta, Thursday.

The declaration contains, among others, efforts to harmonize standards of vaccine and self-reliance in medicines for OIC members.

"Through this meeting, a network has been built to carry out regulatory functions to realize the availability of safe, qualitative, and useful medicines," Penny Lukito, head of Food and Drug Supervision Agency (BPOM), said.

Other parts of the declaration underline the importance of redefining views on "halal" (allowed by Islam) medicines and vaccines.

She said the definition of halal on foods was not a problem because a lot of choices are available.

"With regard to vaccines and medicines, the choices are few and so the terminology halal must be redefined," she noted.

Lukito spoke in the company of OIC Assistant Secretary General Muhammad Naeem Khan, CEO of Saudi Arabia FDA Hisham S Al Jadhey, Mustafa AM Alnafi, a delegation member from Palestine, Markieu Janneh Kaira from Gambia and Kamapradipta Isnomo from the Indonesian foreign ministry.

Penny stressed "emergency is one of the reasons halal for vaccines and medicines must be redefined."

The World Health Organization states 30 percent of the world population lack access to essential medicines, including vaccines.

This also happens in the member countries of OIC, and their problem is similar, which is the limited production capacity of their pharmaceutical industries, she remarked.

"A number of OIC countries are still fighting contagious disease epidemics, which are actually preventable using vaccines. This underlines the importance of widening access to vaccines, including cheap medicines," she maintained.

Penny emphasized the meeting would become the starting point for better cooperation in the future, which has been included in the work plan.

Indonesia, she added, could take an initiative to OIC member countries to extend their access by taking advantage of the country`s pharmaceutical company Bio Farma.

Bio Farma has been able to produce vaccines recognized by the WHO.

"We have set a target of being able to provide halal vaccine choices within five to six years, not only for OIC members but also other countries," she said. (ANTARA)

The Government of Britain offers visa free visits for Indonesian business people representing 23 selected companies.

"The most important criterion is that the companies have big contribution to the economic relations between Indonesia and Britain," says British Ambassadors to Indonesia Moazzam Malik in Jakarta on Thursday.

Indonesia is the third country in Asia Pacific receiving the "Selected Business Scheme" after China and India.

"This means we see it important the business potentials in Indonesia , beneficial to Britain and Indonesia," Malik said.

Dominique Hardy, the Director of British Visa Department for Asia Pacific said at present there are only 23 companies selected but it is not impossible that the number would increase as Britain would make regular evaluation.

"The 23 companies deserve to be included in the list as so far their staff and families have traveled to Britain regularly," Hardy said.

The companies to receive the SBS facility are British companies having branches in Indonesia and Indonesian companies having units in Britain such as PT Bank HSBC, PT Standard Chartered, PT Sinar Mas Grup, and PT Astra Zeneca Indonesia. (ANTARA)

The Indonesian government continuously provides legal assistance for Siti Aisyah, an Indonesian citizen who is accused of killing Kim Jong-nam, North Korean president’s step elder brother, Kim Jong-un in Malaysia in February 2018. The legal assistance provided by the Indonesian government at the follow-up trial on December 14, 2018 at the Supreme Court of Shah Alam, Malaysia is to re-interrogate the witnesses submitted by the Public Prosecutor, that are impropriate to the evidence on the spot. This was affirmed by Director of Protection of Indonesian Citizen and Legal Entities at the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, to Voice of Indonesia in Jakarta on Wednesday.

“It was to deeply discuss witnesses and evidences submitted by the prosecutor from our perspective. We have already submitted this, but it is not as our position. It has not been included in the advocacy note. For example, the witness said that he took a sample of Siti’s clothes. When taking it, she was using black plastic. However, a witness in the laboratory said that he received it in a transparent plastic. Then, he testified that when he took the evidence, he looked at two other women there. But why the two women have never been interrogated? Based on the law procedure, the two women must be interrogated,” Lalu Muhammad Iqbal said.

Moreover, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal explained that the Indonesian government has not yet proposed new witnesses, namely the two women who were with Siti Aisyah when they were arrested in February because they were still focusing on the statements of witnesses submitted by the Public Prosecutor. After conducting the trial on December 14, 2018, Siti Aisyah is scheduled to hold a follow-up session on January 7 and 10, 2019 and on 18 and 20 February 2019. As previously reported, Siti Aisyah and a Vietnamese citizen, Doan Thi Huong were accused of killing Kim Jong-nam by rubbing toxic substances on the face of the North Korean founder's grandson when he was waiting for a plane at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in February 2018. (VOI/Viqran/AHM)

Indonesian Health Minister Nila F. Moeloek has stated that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member countries are facing infectious diseases, which have killed a lot of populations due to lack of capacity in medicine production and minimum availability of essential medicines.

"We are concerned about the high mortality and morbidity in many OIC member countries," Moeloek stated at the First Meeting of the Heads of National Medicines Regulatory Authorities (NMRAs) of the OIC member states held in Jakarta on Wednesday.

She noted that in 2015, infectious diseases constituted 30 percent of the causes of death in OIC countries. That figure far exceeds the mortality rate in non-OIC developing countries and in the world of 24 percent and 22 percent, respectively.

The minister pointed out that a number of OIC countries are still struggling to fight against the epidemic of infectious diseases, which are actually preventable. However, efforts to reduce the transmission of the disease are constrained by the low production capacity of essential drugs.

This condition is worsening due to the low access and availability of medicines, including qualified vaccines in some OIC countries.

Moeloek noted that the OIC countries, some of which are developing countries and left behind, need affordable, standardized, and safe medical products, including vaccines, especially to protect children from infectious diseases.

Most of the OIC countries also face challenges of availability of halal products, which are permissible by Islamic Law. These problems should be solved through various programs and good partnerships.

"The need for halal vaccines and drugs has become a challenge for the Islamic world. Through the cooperation forum, the drug supervisory authorities are encouraged to develop halal medical products," Moeloek explained.

She asserted that the OIC member countries should enhance their national health programs to free the people from diseases as expected in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The need for an effective and strong drug control system should also be met to ensure the availability of qualified drugs and also to ensure that all people get access to affordable medicines, she elaborated.

According to her, strengthening the cooperation among medicine regulatory authorities of the OIC countries, along with partnerships with stakeholders, is very important.

"Islam requires people to help each other. The implementation of this value makes Islam great. Therefore, the OIC countries are expected to support each other in improving public health system. Solidarity is also needed for poor and those in conflicting countries in the Middle East. Hopefully this forum will answer the challenges in the medical and health sectors," Moeloek pointed out.(ANTARA)