Countries Make Progress on Panflu Preparedness

Latin American and Caribbean countries are more prepared today for an influenza pandemic than they were a year ago, according to a Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) report.

Nearly all PAHO member countries now have national influenza preparedness plans in draft or advanced form, and the rest are developing such plans, according to an Avian Flu and Pandemic Influenza Progress Report submitted to the 27th Pan American Sanitary Conference in October. With PAHO help, countries are strengthening laboratory capacity and early warning systems to detect outbreaks of influenza and other diseases that could have an international impact (see also cover story). Nearly 120 officials from 35 countries have received training in these areas as members of national or international rapid response teams.

PAHO has been working with its member countries since early 2006 to help them develop, evaluate, and implement national influenza pandemic preparedness plans. To assess progress, PAHO organized four subregional workshops-for the Southern Cone, the Andes, Central America and the Caribbean-employing an assessment tool based on the World Health Organization's (WHO) Checklist for Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Planning. Participants included officials from health, agriculture, communication, emergency response and other sectors from 41 countries and territories, as well as PAHO experts in communicable diseases, animal health, emergency preparedness and response, immunization, health services, and communication.

To help harmonize flu surveillance in the region, PAHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed a Generic Protocol for Influenza Surveillance (GPIS) during 2007 and organized a series of workshops in which more than 160 officials from 27 countries learned how to use the protocol.

As part of its efforts to support improved surveillance, PAHO purchased, with CDC support, immunofluorescence microscopes, diagnostic kits, and reagents and provided training for officials from 12 countries on the use of polymerase chain reaction to identify different types of influenza. As a result of this process, three laboratories in Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Panama were designated as National Influenza Centers, joining a network of 25 influenza centers elsewhere in the region.

PAHO has also trained health and other government officials from all its member countries in outbreak and crisis communication planning.

For more information on pandemic preparedness please follow this link.