Influenza
Influenza is a common respiratory illness, which rapidly spreads around the world in seasonal epidemics affecting about 1 billion people every year. It is estimated that every year, influenza causes 3 to 5 million cases of severe illness, and is responsible for about 500,000 deaths. The most vulnerable are the old, the very young and the chronically ill.
Influenza is not restricted to cold parts of the world and can even occur in the tropics. It is not restricted to any age group and spreads rapidly, through schools, businesses and towns. It can also place serious strain on public health facilities and cause economic loss on society as a whole when, for example, employees take sick leave from work. The World Bank estimates that in the United States in 2007 there were 87.1 billion US dollars spent on influenza-related costs (Molinari, NA et al, 2007.), 20-40 million outpatient visits and 330 000 hospitalizations for influenza related problems.
The Global Influenza Programme
The goals of the WHO Global Influenza Programme (GIP) are to:
- Monitor and track influenza outbreaks
- Generate and transfer knowledge and technical guidance on all forms of influenza
- Guide and support countries to develop and strengthen influenza control programmes
- Identify gaps in knowledge on the disease and stimulate research to fill these gaps
- Accelerate access to vaccines and antiviral medicines
- Provide global health leadership and collaboration to prevent and control influenza
GIP, working with partners and organizations worldwide, coordinates a global response to threats from influenza. All forms of influenza are due to influenza viruses which are characterized by constant changes in their structure through antigenic drift or shift and therefore require close monitoring and assessment.
It is difficult to predict which influenza strain will cause a pandemic or when it may break out. We know that when it happens, taking into account lessons learnt from past pandemics and today's ways of living such as regular air travel, the damage could be devastating. A pandemic could cause high mortality, in a very short space of time. It could severely strain countries' essential services and cause severe disruption and economic loss.
GIP, because of its networks and broad range of partners, is uniquely positioned to:
- help support countries to PROTECT themselves against the constant risks associated with seasonal, animal and pandemic influenza, and
- help countries PREPARE for the next flu pandemic thereby mitigating its potential impact.
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