FW: WHO Pandemic Phase 6 Announcement - What does this mean? Actions to Prepare? Invitation to Phone Q&A Tomorrow June 12 at 11:30-12:30 ET

[Guest guest]

FYI . . . this maybe of interest to those following the H1N1

situation.

Best regards,

***********************

Gardner, MPH

Senior Project Manager

Farmworker Health Services, Inc.

Oakland, CA

510-268-0091

heather@...

www.farmworkerhealth.org

---------- Forwarded message

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From: CORE CS Community Listserv <cscommunity@...>

Date: 2009/6/11

Subject: WHO Pandemic Phase 6 Announcement - What does this mean? Actionsto

Prepare? Invitation to Phone Q & A Tomorrow June 12 at 11:30-12:30 ET

list_cscommunity@...

Dear

Colleagues:

Today

WHO has declared a pandemic and officially moved to Phase 6 in the pandemic

alert scale. This communication and attached document outlines what this means,

what NGOs can and should be doing to prepare, and where to look for additional

and up-to-date information.

The

CORE Group Humanitarian Pandemic Preparedness (H2P) team will host an open

phone line tomorrow, Friday June 12, from 11.30 am-12.30 pm ET for questions

and discussion related to H1N1, pandemic influenza and NGO preparedness and

response. To participate, call:

•

For calls from inside the US, dial toll-free:

1-866-642-1665

•

For calls from outside the US, toll dial: 1-719-387-8317

•

Participant Passcode: 231-747#

What

does this mean?

The WHO declaration of Phase 6 means

that the novel H1N1 strain continues to spread from person-to-person across the

globe. The WHO pandemic alert scale defines a pandemic by the geographic

spread of a novel influenza virus. The alert system does not describe

severity because severity is difficult to define at a global level.

Please find attached a short 1.5 page document on understanding pandemic

severity (from the H2P Community Planning and Response Curriculum).

WHO has said it has good reason to believe that this pandemic, at least in its

early days, will be of moderate severity. That said, the majority of

patients experience mild symptoms (that would be expected in a severe pandemic

as well).

At

the global level, influenza experts will be carefully monitoring the situation

in case the virus begins to cause more severe illness. Flu viruses are

extremely unpredictable and the severity of the situation could change.

WHO is not recommending any restrictions on travel at this time.

At the individual level and in the workplace there is a need for increased

caution. The novel H1N1 strain of flu is a new virus and therefore people

do not have immunity to it. In the workplace, staff should increase

vigilance of workplace sanitation and hygiene (sample posters can be found here and here and here). Also, now more than ever it is important to

enforce that sick employees should stay home and not come to work.

Though

most people who become ill will experience only mild illness, it is important

to note that:

-

In some of these countries, around 2% of cases have developed severe

illness, often with very rapid progression to life-threatening pneumonia.

-

Most cases of severe and fatal infections have been in adults between

the ages of 30 and 50 years.

-

This pattern is significantly different from that seen during epidemics

of seasonal influenza, when most deaths occur in frail elderly people.

-

Many, though not all, severe cases have occurred in people with

underlying chronic conditions. Based on limited, preliminary data, conditions

most frequently seen include respiratory diseases, notably asthma,

cardiovascular disease, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, and obesity.

-

At the same time, it is important to note that around one third to half

of the severe and fatal infections are occurring in previously healthy young

and middle-aged people.

-

Without question, pregnant women are at increased risk of complications.

This heightened risk takes on added importance for a virus, like this one, that

preferentially infects younger age groups.

-

Finally, and perhaps of greatest concern, we do not know how this virus

will behave under conditions typically found in the developing world. To date,

the vast majority of cases have been detected and investigated in comparatively

well-off countries.

What actions

should we take to prepare?

We now have an

important window of opportunity to prepare in case the situation becomes more

severe.

1. Internal preparedness planning - Organizations should consider what measures they

would take during a severe pandemic. How would the organization

operate? How can the organization ensure staff safety? How will

communications be handled? How will essential business continuity issues

be addressed?

For

Guidance on Business Continuity Planning, visit these sites:

· Preparedness Planning for US Businesses with Overseas

Operations, 4 pages, Jan. 5, 07

· Government of New Zealand Pandemic Flu Business Continuity

Planning Guide, October 2005 (an excellent 68-page resource with practical

tools)

· Business

Continuity Plan: Infectious Diseases. Canadian Centre for Occupational

Health and Safety

2.

Programmatic preparedness to respond

to the emergency - For organizations that

have the capacity to assist with preparedness activities and/or to respond to

humanitarian needs during a pandemic, an excellent set of global materials has

been developed by the H2P Initiative for working at the national, district and

community level. The materials are available at the CORE Group

and H2P

Initiative websites, and include the H2P Community Planning and Response

Curriculum.

3.

Stay informed of the evolving

situation - Visit the sites below, as

well as this

list of recommended websites for the most up-to-date accurate information

as the situation develops:

> For status on the outbreak visit:

CDC http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/

WHO

http://www.who.int

US Government

http://www.pandemicflu.gov/

A

PowerPoint presentation on Pandemic Influenza: Epidemiology & Mitigation,

History & Current Threat, is now being updated once or twice a week on www.coregroup.org/h2p

(listed as " Pandemic Influenza: Current Threat " )

Please

feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

CORE

Group H2P Team,

Bolles (kbolles@...)

Triana (vtriana@...)

Starbuck (estarbuck@...)

Whitney

Pyles (wpyles@...)

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Flu_Severity_Summ.doc