WHO comes up with influenza strategy

MANILA, Philippines — With another influenza pandemic hovering across the continents, the World Health Organization (WHO) has come up with a strategy that will prepare all countries for the threat.

According to WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Global Influenza Strategy for 2019 to 2013 is aimed “to prevent seasonal influenza, control the spread of influenza from animals to humans and prepare for the next influenza pandemic.”

Ghebreyesus added that the threat of pandemic influenza is ever-present.

“The question is not if we will have another pandemic, but when,” he noted.

Ghebreyesus underscored the need for everyone to be “vigilant and prepared as the cost of a major influenza outbreak will far outweigh the price of prevention.”

Influenza remains one of the world’s greatest public health challenges. Every year there are an estimated one billion cases, three to five million of which are severe cases resulting in 290,000 to 650,000 influenza-related respiratory deaths. 

WHO recommends annual influenza vaccination as the most effective way to prevent infection. 

The agency reiterated that “vaccination is especially important for people at higher risk of serious influenza complications and for health care workers.”

In June 2009 the WHO declared a pandemic of H1N1 virus after it was first detected in the US and spread quickly across the world.  

The virus was found to contain a unique combination of influenza genes not previously seen in humans or animals.

Ghebreyesus said the new strategy is the “most comprehensive and far-reaching that WHO has ever developed for influenza.”

The Global Influenza Strategy outlines a path to protect populations every year and helps prepare for a pandemic through strengthening routine programs.

“With the partnerships and country-specific work we have been doing over the years, the world is better prepared than ever before for the next big outbreak, but we are still not prepared enough… This strategy aims to get us to that point,” Ghebreyesus maintained.– Janvic Mateo