HHS Issues National Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Plan

United States. In 1957, the Asian flu pandemic resulted in about 70,000 deaths. The most deadly influenza pandemic outbreak was the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, which caused illness in roughly 20 to 40 percent of the world's population and more than 50 million deaths worldwide. Between September 1918 and April 1919, approximately 675,000 deaths from the Spanish flu occurred in the United States alone.

Planning and implementing preparedness activities are critical to improving the effectiveness of a response and decreasing the impacts of a pandemic. HHS has increased support for pandemic influenza activities and is engaged in several efforts to enhance the nation's preparedness for such an outbreak. HHS supports pandemic influenza activities in five key areas: surveillance, vaccine development and production, antiviral stockpiling, research, and public health preparedness.

This draft plan includes a core section and 12 annexes. The core plan describes coordination and decision making at the national level; provides an overview of key issues; and outlines action steps that should be taken at the national, state, and local levels before and during a pandemic. Annexes provide additional information to health departments and private sector organizations for use in developing local preparedness plans as well as additional technical information to support the core document.

Source: Department of Health and Human Services