Fourth and final joint WHO/ECDC workshop on pandemic plan revisions
WHO
During the week of 14 November 2011, WHO/Europe held a meeting in Istanbul for influenza experts from Member States in the eastern and southeastern part of the WHO European Region.
The meeting included nine participating countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – and focused on pandemic preparedness, specifically changes being made by countries to their pandemic plans as a result of their experience with the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. This was the fourth and final workshop in a series organized jointly by WHO/Europe and ECDC to facilitate the sharing of good practice among Member States with respect to pandemic plan revisions. Participants from five of the nine countries in the workshop have performed an evaluation and have already started to revise their pandemic plans.
The participants agreed that the relative mildness of the 2009 pandemic makes it difficult to convince governments to invest in pandemic plan revisions and that WHO/Europe needs to provide clear guidance on this front. Such guidance should emphasize that, in addition to focusing on specific aspects of pandemic preparedness such as the delivery of pandemic vaccine, preparedness should be built into all systems, e.g. risk assessment and communication and health systems strengthening. Countries have also requested that WHO/Europe continue to provide a platform for sharing experiences and best practices, as well as for conducting joint work.
Following this fourth workshop, a final report on the full series of workshops will be made available.
The meeting included nine participating countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – and focused on pandemic preparedness, specifically changes being made by countries to their pandemic plans as a result of their experience with the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. This was the fourth and final workshop in a series organized jointly by WHO/Europe and ECDC to facilitate the sharing of good practice among Member States with respect to pandemic plan revisions. Participants from five of the nine countries in the workshop have performed an evaluation and have already started to revise their pandemic plans.
The participants agreed that the relative mildness of the 2009 pandemic makes it difficult to convince governments to invest in pandemic plan revisions and that WHO/Europe needs to provide clear guidance on this front. Such guidance should emphasize that, in addition to focusing on specific aspects of pandemic preparedness such as the delivery of pandemic vaccine, preparedness should be built into all systems, e.g. risk assessment and communication and health systems strengthening. Countries have also requested that WHO/Europe continue to provide a platform for sharing experiences and best practices, as well as for conducting joint work.
Following this fourth workshop, a final report on the full series of workshops will be made available.
