Urgent Support for Developing Countries' Responses to the H1N1 Influenza Pandemic

Download the June 2010 Report

Four monthly update on resources mobilized and activities undertaken by WHO, UN System and IFRC to support the least resourced countries in strengthening readiness and response to the H1N1 Influenza

Introduction

Approximately one year ago, on 11 June 2009, WHO declared the first influenza pandemic in over 40 years due to the rapid spread of a novel influenza virus, influenza A (H1N1) 2009. As of 30 May 2010, the virus was reported to be affecting populations in more than 198 countries and territories.

From the outset of the pandemic it was feared that the people in the least resourced countries would be most affected because of the higher prevalence of risk factors, including limited capacities of their health systems and their relative difficulty to access recommended vaccines and antiviral medicines. In light of these concerns, in July 2009, the United Nations System and partners sought to identify and highlight the priority needs of developing countries to support their response to the A(H1N1) influenza pandemic. An “Urgent Needs Identification and Prioritization” (UNIP) process was undertaken and 64 Least Developed Countries and other “GAVI-eligible” developing countries – referred to as the Least Resourced Countries (LRC?s) in this paper – elected to participate in the process. The conclusions of the UNIP process were presented in a September 2009 report entitled “Urgent Support for Developing Countries' Responses to the H1N1 Influenza Pandemic1”. This report highlighted USD 1.48 billion in priority needs for medicines, vaccine and supplies, laboratory and surveillance services, communications capacity, investing in pandemic readiness, and needs of entities responsible for supporting regional and international cooperation.

The UN System committed to report on progress made towards addressing the gaps identified through the UNIP process on a regular basis. The first report highlighted the progress that had been made by 1 February 20102, and this next report provides a further update on progress during the reporting period 1 February 2010 to 1 June 2010 on:

Resources that have been mobilized to assist least resourced countries in meeting the priority, urgent needs that were identified and highlighted during the UNIP process (Section 1)
Activities undertaken by WHO, UN System and IFRC to assist least resourced countries in meeting the priority, urgent needs to strengthen their readiness and response to pandemic H1N1 (Section 2)

In consolidating this report, it was recognized that a four month reporting period was a somewhat short period in which to show substantial progress in such activities, particularly as the availability of new resources to undertake such activities has declined. Consequently, it has been agreed that the next UNIP report will be produced in June 2011, enabling a consolidated report on the work being done over the course of the next twelve months.