Q & A with Dr Ann Moen: How influenza preparedness helps fight other infectious diseases

Capacity building for influenza is critical because if you can prepare for and respond to flu outbreaks or respiratory events, you learn and practice for responses to other emerging diseases. Flu is not a sporadic outbreak like Ebola or Zika. It is always there, so there is always something to practice with and keep skills sharp. Because flu is a continual threat there is a lot of learning that goes on which also supports work on other emerging diseases. It ’s like the basic architecture for capacity building in all areas. For example, you can practice your communications for responding to outbreaks and better understand the behavioral aspects of vaccine hesitancy. You can build your laboratory capacity and surveillance and response capacity and use it for other things infectious threats such as MERS or SARS or other respiratory threats. Influenza can also help you learn how to implement a vaccine programme and introduce new drugs.
Source: WHO Feature Stories - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: immunization [subject], vaccination, influenza [subject], flu, seasonal influenza, pandemic influenza Source Type: news