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Although there are no immediate or obvious pandemic threats on the horizon, public health officials and emergency planners know that pandemics tend to arise quickly, and with scant warning.
For that reason, public health agencies around the world have created, and continue to maintain and upgrade, their pandemic preparedness plans.
Today Hong Kong announced the release of their 2012 Revised Pandemic Plan, a 36-page PDF document that outlines three pandemic alert levels (Alert, Serious, Emergency) and the coordinated response to each.
Here is the press release from info.gov.hk
Preparedness Plan for Influenza Pandemic 2012 launched
The Government today (August 22) announced the launch of the Preparedness Plan for Influenza Pandemic 2012. The plan is an updated version based mainly on the framework of the previous plan having regard to experience in recent years including the human swine influenza pandemic in 2009.
A spokesman for the DH said, "The Government is committed to continuous enhancement of preparedness to cater for possible risks of influenza pandemic.
"The updated plan continues to uphold the established principles of reducing the risk of human infection, early detection, prompt treatment and control, and responsive risk communication."
In the updated plan, the three response levels, namely Alert, Serious and Emergency, are classified with each response level representing a graded risk of pandemic affecting Hong Kong instead of the scenario-based approach in the previous plan.
The key factors in risk level assessment cover areas of transmissibility, geographical spread, clinical severity, pre-existing immunity, availability of effective preventive measures and recommendations of international health authorities.
"With the new approach in defining the response level, the responsiveness of the plan is expected to bring about improvements, especially in terms of a broader range of scenarios in relation to not only avian influenza but also other forms of novel influenza," the spokesman stressed.
The updated plan also includes comprehensive response measures for an influenza pandemic, fine-tuned command structures, and mechanisms for the activation and standing down of response levels.
An influenza pandemic is a global spread of disease caused by a novel influenza virus against which the human population has low or no immunity. The Preparedness Plan for Influenza Pandemic was developed in 2005 to enhance emergency preparedness and response for an influenza pandemic.
The plan defines the three response levels, sets out the corresponding command structures and outlines the measures to be taken having regard to the development of a pandemic.
The spokesman added, "The Government will review the plan from time to time having regard to the latest practices and recommendations to ensure that the appropriate response measures are adopted."
More information on the plan can be accessed at the webpage of the Centre for Health Protection at www.chp.gov.hk/en/guideline1/29.html.
Ends/Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Issued at HKT 18:40
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