BACKGROUND Reviews of the global response to the 2009 pandemic of influenza A/H1N1 affirmed the importance of assessment of preparedness and response capabilities. DESIGN The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and partners developed the National Inventory of Core Capabilities for Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response (http://www.cdc.gov/flu/international/tools.htm) ...

OBJECTIVE The presence of the highly pathogenic avian H5N1 virus in wild bird populations in several regions of the world, together with recurrent cases of H5N1 influenza arising primarily from direct contact with poultry, have highlighted the urgent need for prepared-ness and coordinated global strategies to effectively combat a potential influenza pandemic. The purpose of the present study wa...

Public health professionals are responsible for ensuring the health of the nation, which requires that planners for public health emergencies recognize that not including protection for underserved or marginalized communities poses a risk to the entire population. To assure the protection of these populations in the event of a pandemic outbreak, preparedness planning will benefit from the appli...

BACKGROUND In 2006, Malawi developed a national influenza plan to mitigate, prevent and manage the burden of infection should an outbreak occur. In 2009, it translated its contingency plan to respond to the unfolding influenza pandemic. However, little is known of how Malawi translated its national influenza plan into response actions, or the success of these responses. OBJECTIVE To investiga...

BACKGROUND Community-wide preparedness for pandemic influenza is an issue that has featured prominently in the recent news media, and is currently a priority for health authorities in many countries. The small and medium business sector is a major provider of private sector employment in Australia, yet we have little information about the preparedness of this sector for pandemic influenza. This...

Influenza viruses pose a permanent threat to human populations due to their ability to constantly adapt to impact immunologically susceptible individuals in the forms of epidemic and pandemics through antigenic drifts and antigenic shifts, respectively. Pandemic influenza preparedness is a critical step in responding to future influenza outbreaks. In this regard, responding to the current pande...

BACKGROUND This study investigated the relationship between training programmes for pandemic flu and level of knowledge of health-care professionals with performance in an avian flu exercise. METHODS Training programmes of all general hospitals in Israel for managing a pandemic influenza were evaluated. Spearman's ρ correlation was used to analyse the relationship between training scores and ...

In April 2009, the World Health Organization announced the emergence of a novel influenza A(H1N1-09) virus and in June 2009 declared the outbreak a pandemic. The value of military structures in responding to pandemic influenza has become widely acknowledged in recent years. In 2005, the Israeli Government appointed the Ministry of Defense to be in charge of national preparedness and response fo...

As health facilities vary in type, function, size and, most importantly, the context in which they operate, it is impractical to provide a set of universally applicable recommendations for the essential components of health facility pandemic preparedness plans. A tailored preparedness plan should be developed by consultative discussions involving all key players inside and outside the facility....

BACKGROUND Given the enormity of challenges involved in pandemic preparedness, design and implementation of effective and cost-effective public health policies is a major task that requires an integrated approach through engagement of scientific, administrative, and political communities across disciplines. There is ample evidence to suggest that modeling may be a viable approach to accomplish ...