A senior official at the Indonesian health ministry said that the government has requested a two-year extension to allow it to implement an international health regulation previously agreed with member states of the World Health Organization (WHO), local media reported on Wednesday.

On June 15, 2007, Indonesia adopted the 2005 International Health Regulation (IHR) and agreed to a five-year timeframe to implement the regulation.

Under the agreement, governments are required to take steps to strengthen their core capacity to detect and prevent the potential for the rapid, global spread of disease and chemical and radioactive contamination.

"We need more time to prepare the full implementation of the IHR 2005 partly due to lack of human resources with broad technical expertise in surveillance and response," said Deputy Health Minister Ali Ghufron Mukti.

The 2005 agreement is binding to all WHO member countries, including Indonesia.

The agreement requires that each protection effort should be based on the principle of "maximum protection with minimum restriction both on trade and international travel."

"The expanded 2005 IHR mandate not only measures the prevention of the global spread of infectious disease, chemical and radioactive contamination, but also coordination and information sharing in detecting risks that may lead to public health emergencies of international concern," Ali said, quoted by the Jakarta Post.

To support the implementation of the 2005 IHR, he said, the government established the National Commission for the 2005 IHR Implementation, with representatives from relevant ministries and institutions as members.

The 2005 IHR was set up following the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in February 2003. The SARS pandemic prompted the revision of the IHR as it caused deaths and significant economic losses.

The international community has used the 2005 IHR to deal with the H1N1 virus, or swine flu outbreak in 2009 and other public health emergencies that occurred afterward.

Providing KKP (Port Health Agency) officers with leadership and technical training was included in the 2005 IHR's plan of action.

"KKP officers working at sea ports, airports and cross border posts are at the front of efforts to protect the country from any threats of infectious disease and chemical and radioactive contamination coming from outside. So, it's important to empower them," said Ali.