Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response


Book Description

This guidance is an update of WHO global influenza preparedness plan: the role of WHO and recommendations for national measures before and during pandemics, published March 2005 (WHO/CDS/CSR/GIP/2005.5).




Improving Pandemic Preparedness


Book Description

The United States and the world were unprepared for the COVID-19 pandemic, despite decades of warnings highlighting the inevitability of global pandemics and the need for international coordination. The failure to prioritize and adequately fund preparedness and effectively implement response plans has exacted a heavy human and economic price, and the crisis is not yet over. Emerging and reemerging infectious diseases are a threat to global and national security that neither the United States nor the world can afford to ignore. This Task Force proposes a comprehensive strategy that includes institutional reforms and policy innovations to help the United States and the multilateral system perform better in this crisis and when the next one emerges. Without increased U.S. leadership on and adequate investment in pandemic preparedness and response, the United States and the world will remain unnecessarily vulnerable to epidemic threats. The Council on Foreign Relations sponsors Independent Task Forces to assess issues of current and critical importance to U.S. foreign policy and provide policymakers with concrete judgments and recommendations. Diverse in backgrounds and perspectives, Task Force members aim to reach a meaningful consensus on policy through private deliberations. Once launched, Task Forces are independent of CFR and are solely responsible for the content of their reports. Task Force members are asked to join a consensus signifying that they endorse the general policy thrust and judgments reached by the group, though not necessarily every finding and recommendation. Each Task Force member also has the option of putting forward an additional or a dissenting view.




Exploring Lessons Learned from a Century of Outbreaks


Book Description

In November 2018, an ad hoc planning committee at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine planned two sister workshops held in Washington, DC, to examine the lessons from influenza pandemics and other major outbreaks, understand the extent to which the lessons have been learned, and discuss how they could be applied further to ensure that countries are sufficiently ready for future pandemics. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from both workshops.




Evidence-Based Practice for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response


Book Description

When communities face complex public health emergencies, state local, tribal, and territorial public health agencies must make difficult decisions regarding how to effectively respond. The public health emergency preparedness and response (PHEPR) system, with its multifaceted mission to prevent, protect against, quickly respond to, and recover from public health emergencies, is inherently complex and encompasses policies, organizations, and programs. Since the events of September 11, 2001, the United States has invested billions of dollars and immeasurable amounts of human capital to develop and enhance public health emergency preparedness and infrastructure to respond to a wide range of public health threats, including infectious diseases, natural disasters, and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear events. Despite the investments in research and the growing body of empirical literature on a range of preparedness and response capabilities and functions, there has been no national-level, comprehensive review and grading of evidence for public health emergency preparedness and response practices comparable to those utilized in medicine and other public health fields. Evidence-Based Practice for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response reviews the state of the evidence on PHEPR practices and the improvements necessary to move the field forward and to strengthen the PHEPR system. This publication evaluates PHEPR evidence to understand the balance of benefits and harms of PHEPR practices, with a focus on four main areas of PHEPR: engagement with and training of community-based partners to improve the outcomes of at-risk populations after public health emergencies; activation of a public health emergency operations center; communication of public health alerts and guidance to technical audiences during a public health emergency; and implementation of quarantine to reduce the spread of contagious illness.




The Ebola Epidemic in West Africa


Book Description

The most recent Ebola epidemic that began in late 2013 alerted the entire world to the gaps in infectious disease emergency preparedness and response. The regional outbreak that progressed to a significant public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) in a matter of months killed 11,310 and infected more than 28,616. While this outbreak bears some unique distinctions to past outbreaks, many characteristics remain the same and contributed to tragic loss of human life and unnecessary expenditure of capital: insufficient knowledge of the disease, its reservoirs, and its transmission; delayed prevention efforts and treatment; poor control of the disease in hospital settings; and inadequate community and international responses. Recognizing the opportunity to learn from the countless lessons of this epidemic, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop in March 2015 to discuss the challenges to successful outbreak responses at the scientific, clinical, and global health levels. Workshop participants explored the epidemic from multiple perspectives, identified important questions about Ebola that remained unanswered, and sought to apply this understanding to the broad challenges posed by Ebola and other emerging pathogens, to prevent the international community from being taken by surprise once again in the face of these threats. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.




National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness


Book Description

The ultimate guide for anyone wondering how President Joe Biden will respond to the COVID-19 pandemic—all his plans, goals, and executive orders in response to the coronavirus crisis. Shortly after being inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden and his administration released this 200 page guide detailing his plans to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. The National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness breaks down seven crucial goals of President Joe Biden's administration with regards to the coronavirus pandemic: 1. Restore trust with the American people. 2. Mount a safe, effective, and comprehensive vaccination campaign. 3. Mitigate spread through expanding masking, testing, data, treatments, health care workforce, and clear public health standards. 4. Immediately expand emergency relief and exercise the Defense Production Act. 5. Safely reopen schools, businesses, and travel while protecting workers. 6. Protect those most at risk and advance equity, including across racial, ethnic and rural/urban lines. 7. Restore U.S. leadership globally and build better preparedness for future threats. Each of these goals are explained and detailed in the book, with evidence about the current circumstances and how we got here, as well as plans and concrete steps to achieve each goal. Also included is the full text of the many Executive Orders that will be issued by President Biden to achieve each of these goals. The National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness is required reading for anyone interested in or concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on American society.




Global Health Risk Framework


Book Description

Since the 2014 Ebola outbreak many public- and private-sector leaders have seen a need for improved management of global public health emergencies. The effects of the Ebola epidemic go well beyond the three hardest-hit countries and beyond the health sector. Education, child protection, commerce, transportation, and human rights have all suffered. The consequences and lethality of Ebola have increased interest in coordinated global response to infectious threats, many of which could disrupt global health and commerce far more than the recent outbreak. In order to explore the potential for improving international management and response to outbreaks the National Academy of Medicine agreed to manage an international, independent, evidence-based, authoritative, multistakeholder expert commission. As part of this effort, the Institute of Medicine convened four workshops in summer of 2015 to inform the commission report. The presentations and discussions from the Workshop on Research and Development of Medical Products are summarized in this report.




Health Emergency Preparedness and Response


Book Description

Intensely practical and down to earth, this timely new text covers the breadth of health emergency preparedness, resilience and response topics in the context of inter-disciplinary and whole society responses to a range of threats. It includes public, private and third sector roles in preparation for and in response to natural and man-made events, such as: major incident planning; infectious disease epidemics and pandemics; natural disasters; terrorist threats; and business and service continuity management. The book builds upon the basics of risk assessment and writing an emergency plan, and then covers inter-agency working, command and control, communication, personal impact and business continuity as well as training, exercises and post-incident follow up. Detailing the full emergency preparedness and civil protection planning cycle, the book is illustrated throughout with real-life examples and case studies from global experts in the field for countries with both advanced and developing healthcare systems. This practical handbook covering the essential aspects of major incident and disaster management is ideal for undergraduate and master's students in emergency management and public health, as well as for practitioners in emergency preparedness and civil protection. It will be valuable to all health practitioners from ambulance, hospital, primary and community care, mental health and public health backgrounds.




Ethical and Legal Considerations in Mitigating Pandemic Disease


Book Description

In recent public workshops and working group meetings, the Forum on Microbial Threats of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) has examined a variety of infectious disease outbreaks with pandemic potential, including those caused by influenza (IOM, 2005) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) (IOM, 2004). Particular attention has been paid to the potential pandemic threat posed by the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which is now endemic in many Southeast Asian bird populations. Since 2003, the H5N1 subtype of avian influenza has caused 185 confirmed human deaths in 11 countries, including some cases of viral transmission from human to human (WHO, 2007). But as worrisome as these developments are, at least they are caused by known pathogens. The next pandemic could well be caused by the emergence of a microbe that is still unknown, much as happened in the 1980s with the emergence of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and in 2003 with the appearance of the SARS coronavirus. Previous Forum meetings on pandemic disease have discussed the scientific and logistical challenges associated with pandemic disease recognition, identification, and response. Participants in these earlier meetings also recognized the difficulty of implementing disease control strategies effectively. Ethical and Legal Considerations in Mitigating Pandemic Disease: Workshop Summary as a factual summary of what occurred at the workshop.




Preparing for Pandemics in the Modern World


Book Description

The Black Death. Cholera. Spanish flu. Swine flu. HIV/AIDS. COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2. Each of these pandemics has made (or, is making) a lasting impact on humanity. From the immediate mental image of the beaked masks worn in the Middle Ages (bubonic plague) and the birth of epidemiology (cholera) to recognizing the benefits of social distancing (1918 flu) and the harm of prejudice and misinformation (HIV/AIDS), pandemics have shown us how to survive infectious disease, as long as we heed their lessons. Preparing for Pandemics in the Modern World, edited by Christine Crudo Blackburn, brings together experts on pandemic preparedness and biosecurity to explore areas of weakness in pandemic prevention, preparedness, detection, and response. Even as COVID-19 makes its way around the world, leaders and policymakers are tasked with thinking ahead and preparing to effectively respond to the next such event—which experience shows us to be a matter of “when,” not “if.” Inside, chapters are divided into sections on the lessons learned from the 1918 influenza pandemic, the application of the One Health concept, and the role of the private sector in responding to potentially devastating disease outbreaks. A chapter on the impacts of supply chain disruption—in light of COVID-19—and an epilogue that discusses the current outbreak make Preparing for Pandemics in the Modern World a timely and accessibly written compilation on pandemic prevention, preparedness, detection, and response.