Avian Influenza and the Pandemic Threat

From 6 to 9 May 2008, a WHO consultation was held in Geneva as part of a process for guiding the substantial updating and revision of WHO guidance to countries on how best to prepare for and respond to a human influenza pandemic. Representatives of 30 Member States from around the world addressed a range of technical and other issues. The goal of the consultation was to review a number of draft guidance documents and proposed approaches, and to obtain feedback from participants on the likely usefulness of these in national planning efforts. Following broad web-based review and final revision of all the materials under consideration, a WHO guidance “package” is scheduled for publication in December 2008.

• For more information, visit the IHR website
• Download the report from WHO [.pdf]