Health policy 1 Application: Pandemic Flu Planning

Health policy 1
Application: Pandemic Flu Planning
Potentially one of the most serious of
all public health crises is pandemic flu. In this week’s Application, you will
describe plans for responding to such a pandemic.
Begin by browsing through the flu.gov/about_the_flu/h5n1/#,
found at.flu.gov/”>http://www.flu.gov/,
and familiarize yourself with the resources on the site. Then complete the
following steps:

Read
the “Executive Summary” and Appendix 3: “WHO Global
Pandemic Phases and the Stages for Federal Government Response” from
the following document on the site: “Interim Pre-Pandemic Planning
Guidance: Community Strategy for Pandemic Influenza Mitigation in the
U.S.” found at.flu.gov/planning-preparedness/community/community_mitigation.pdf”>http://www.flu.gov/planning-preparedness/community/community_mitigation.pdf
Access
the influenza plan for your own state and scan it for information to
respond to the exercise below.

For this exercise, assume that cluster(s)
of avian influenza appear in your state. These are still localized but show
some evidence of human transmission (phase 5).
Drawing on the resources from this Web
site and your other Learning Resources this week, address the following
questions in a two-page paper:

What
epidemic control steps do you recommend?
What
legal authorities may have to be invoked?
What
factors will determine or deter the success of your plan?
Are
you likely to control the outbreak so that it does not proceed to the
pandemic phase 6?
Would
you add anything to the government’s plan, or do you think this is
adequate?