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Bird Flu

Preparing for a pandemic

Most experts agree that the question is not if another flu pandemic will occur but when. However, it is not possible to predict with any certainty when or where the next flu pandemic will hit.

Regardless of whether a pandemic occurs next year or within the next 50 years, the consensus among public health officials is that we should prepare ourselves for this eventuality now.

Many people wonder if the world is prepared for a pandemic, and the answer is ‘no!’

Despite the advance warning, the world is ill prepared to defend itself against a flu pandemic. The WHO has urged all countries to develop preparedness plans, but only some have done so. [1] The WHO has also encouraged all countries with adequate resources to stockpile antiviral drugs for use at the start of a pandemic.

Under the current situation, most developing countries may have limited access to vaccines and antiviral drugs throughout the duration of a pandemic.

For more information on the WHO’s pandemic plan and the progress of countries to finalise their plans, visit the WHO's website.

National pandemic plans

More than 40 governments worldwide have made detailed plans to ensure a co-ordinated response to a pandemic with the aim to reduce the consequences.

The most up-to-date list of national flu pandemic plans can be found on the WHO website.

Pandemic reserves of antiviral agents

The WHO advises that building up reserves of antiviral agents in advance is currently the only way to ensure that sufficient supplies are available in the event of a pandemic. [2]

Some countries – such as France, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK – are stockpiling or intending to stockpile amounts of the antiviral agent oseltamivir, to cover 20–40% of their population.

  1. World Health Organization. Avian influenza frequently asked questions. Available here. 
  2. World Health Organization. Antivirals – their use and availability. Available here.
  • "I would describe flu as something that makes you feel very, very ill. You get a headache, aching bones, and are generally fed up"
  • "When I get flu symptoms I feel like a train has run over me"
  • "I felt very sick and, during the first week, I had high temperature. Flu was very different to a cold. I went back to work after two and a half weeks. Then I suffered a setback for another week"
  • "I run a guesthouse; flu would be a real pest for me. I couldn’t cook, I shouldn’t cook, and I wouldn’t cook, so I would need to get a lot of extra help in. It would cost me a lot more money. So flu’s a real problem, a right downturn"
  • "I work on my own and when I can’t work, I have to try not to infect my little children, so they avoid getting the flu as well"
  • "I feel a little numb, like I’m in another dimension. Because in general I have sore throat, headache, I feel all clogged-up. Usually a sensation like I’m floating in the air"
  • "Shivers, sweats, makes you ache. Last time I had flu I was off for two weeks"
  • "I think that I would probably be concerned that I would pass flu onto my children, who might not be able to deal with it as well as I would"
  • "Flu makes you feel like you’ve been hit over the head with a baseball bat. You don’t feel like you can get yourself out of bed as all your energy is drawn from you"
  • "I was incapable of working. It just wasn’t possible at all… and my flu dragged on for more than a week"
  • "I have no strength. It annoys me because I can do nothing, it seems like I’m wasting my time"
  • "Flu’s like being hit by a truck because you feel completely gone. There is no energy left in your body. You are suffering from high temperature. You’re sweating a lot and you feel really unwell"
  • "First of all infinite tiredness, then I feel like sleeping and don’t want to eat"
  • "I felt really miserable because my muscles and my bones were aching. Well, I can hardly describe it, I just felt really awful, absolutely miserable"
  • "It’s like there’s something huge treading on your head, like a deafening noise that destroys the eardrums"
  • "The fever was constantly rising – I immediately measured my temperature as soon as I got home. It was 41°C and it kept rising and I was wondering what’s going on. I was really scared! Everything was hurting and it all happened so fast. Flu came out of the blue"
  • "I always feel like my limbs have iron weights tied to them and I’m going to fall over any minute, a really stuffy runny nose and feel antisocial"
  • "I was totally dependent on others! I was incapable of doing anything at all"
  • "The real flu knocks you for six – you just don’t want to move or do anything. It’s not very nice"
  • "Not being able to go to work. Not being able to do the things I have to do at home and the commitments that I have day by day"