The United States will grant 11.5 million U.S. dollars to Indonesia this year to help the country combat bird flu which has killed 22 out of 30 infected people there, the U.S. embassy said in Jakarta Friday.

The U.S. government expects the fund to be allocated for the surveillance of animal and for health programs in the country, said embassy spokesman Max Kwak.

"These funds will be used for animal and health sector, with major focus on animal death prevention to prevent human pandemic," Max Kwak told Xinhua over telephone.

Indonesian Health Minister Siti Supari Fadillah said the grant will significantly help with the country's efforts to prevent a bird flu outbreak.

Supari expected the funds could be used for establishing more designed hospitals for bird flu cases nationwide and mobilizing people in movement of preventing the spread of the H5N1 virus.

"Now there are 44 hospitals for bird flu, we need over 100 hospitals," she told Xinhua.

Indonesian Coordinating Minister for People Welfare and Poverty Alleviation Aburizal Bakrie said some of the funds would be used for the development of laboratory in the University of Indonesia in Jakarta.

He added that Indonesia still needs some 900 million U.S. dollars in fights against the virus, which has killed more than 97 people worldwide.

Source: Xinhua