(REPORTER) Baby Alia has been in hospital for nine
days with a high fever from measles.
Her tiny body is covered in the 
tell-tale rash.
(TRANSLATION) She got her other 
vaccinations but not measles.
- Alia's family lives in Aceh, 
Indonesia's northernmost province
where vaccination rates are the lowest
in the country.
- The coverage of immunisation used to be really good for measles.
For the last five years it's going down.
Indonesia has one of the highest
rates of unvaccinated children in the world.
A key reason, the measles vaccine
contains a pig product - gelatine.
Only last year it was forbidden by Muslim
leaders.
(TRANSLATION) Pork products are explicitly forbidden according to the Koran,
whether they're eaten or used in any way.
- Under pressure from the government the fatwa commission has since ruled the vaccine
can be used by Muslims if they want.
A campaign has been run promoting immunisation
but many parents like
Alia's still choose not to do it.
One report this year warns Indonesia faces a
high epidemic risk because outside Java
only 73 percent of children have been
vaccinated. Health experts say 95 percent
vaccination is needed to avoid an
epidemic and in some areas with the most
conservative Muslim populations the rate
is below 40 percent.
It's also a threat to Australia, given most cases are imported and Indonesia is consistently
the biggest source country.
- Australians like visiting Indonesia and that's why
we see quite a few imported cases from those places.
- Melbourne's Doherty Institute tests samples from
every measles case in Australia to
establish where it's from. Since 2015
it's found almost a third came from Indonesia.
- I guess people go to Bali so often they
may not seek travel advice, but raising
awareness of the risk of measles.
It's highly infectious.
- And with the number of cases 
in Australia on the rise, doctors
say vaccines both here and in Indonesia
are more important than ever.
