Avian Influenza and the Pandemic Threat

At the September 2011 TASW conference in Rome, TASW released the publication 'Beyond pandemics: a whole-of-society approach to disaster preparedness'. That booklet summarized good practices and lessons from 6 years of multi-sector pandemic preparedness which are relevant to comparable threats. This paper summarizes further approaches, case studies and developments that TASW partners have been working on since the publication of 'Beyond pandemic

The Central Fund for Influenza Action (CFIA) is a multi-donor trust fund established in November 2006 to finance the urgent unfunded and under-funded priority actions of the United Nations System Consolidated Action Plan for Avian and Human Influenza (UNCAPAHI) strategic framework.

UNSIC’s efforts through 2011 continued to focus on strengthening coordination and encouraging and supporting UN and partner stakeholders in their efforts to work in synergy to address pandemic preparedness and response.

The United Nations (UN) Medical Directors developed this document to provide guidance to UN organizations to prepare and respond to an influenza pandemic. Technical input was provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other public health and infectious disease experts.

UNSIC has sustained the achievements of its first two-three years, adapted to changing circumstances and continued to support effective coordination on influenza, as well as more broadly on pandemic preparedness and One Health. It has operated effectively at both global and country/regional level, and provided crucial linkages between UN agencies and other non-UN actors at all levels. There are significant lessons to be learned from UNSIC’s light, networked approach to supporting coordination.

Dr David Nabarro (Senior UN System Influenza Coordinator) led a roundtable on preparedness at the ISDR Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva on 10 May. The Roundtable explored best practices for financing and coordinating disaster preparedness efforts. 300 people attended the roundtable, which was addressed by panelists from the European Parliament, the Governments of Chile and the United States, and the United Nations.