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Beyond Pandemics: a Whole-Of-Society Approach to Disaster Preparedness

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Beyond Pandemics: a Whole-Of-Society Approach to Disaster Preparedness BEYOND PANDEMICS: A WHOLE-OF-SOCIETY APPROACH TO DISASTER PREPAREDNESS September 2011 This publication was prepared for the PREVENT Project under the management of FHI 360, funded by USAID/Global Health under Client Associate Award Number GHN-A-00-09-00002-00 under Leader Award (C-Change) No. GPO-A-00-07-00004-00. September 2011 BEYOND PANDEMICS: A WHOLE-OF-SOCIETY APPROACH TO DISASTER PREPAREDNESS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This document is the product of many sources including the experiences of the authors in planning and handling disaster situations. The authors also would like to acknowledge several other sources: Steve Aldrich, bio-era Philippe Ankers, Food and Agriculture Organization Michelle Barrett, U.N. System Influenza Coordination Robert Blanchard, U.S. Agency for International Development Alastair Cook, World Food Programme Frederik Copper, World Food Programme Ricardo Echalar, FHI 360 Kama Garrison, U.S. Agency for International Development Dirk Glaesser, U.N. World Tourism Organization Judith Graeff, Consultant, FHI 360 Phil Harris, Food and Agriculture Organization Lorna Hartantyo, U.N. World Tourism Organization John Jordan, Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine Wendy Morotti, World Food Programme Melinda Morton, U.S. Department of Defense Michael Mosselmans, World Food Programme David Nabarro, U.N. System Influenza Coordination Ingo Neu, consultant Angus Nicoll, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control Francis Nixon, World Food Programme Mark Rasmuson, FHI 360 Peter Scott-Bowden, World Food Programme Erik Threet, U.S. Africa Command Liviu Vedrasco, International Medical Corps Ronald Waldman, U.S. Agency for International Development Bahar Zorofi, World Food Programme BEYOND PANDEMICS: A WHOLE-OF-SOCIETY APPROACH TO DISASTER PREPAREDNESS I II BEYOND PANDEMICS: A WHOLE-OF-SOCIETY APPROACH TO DISASTER PREPAREDNESS ACRONYMS ASEAN – Association of Southeast Asian Nations FAO – Food and Agriculture Organization H1N1 – Influenza virus A, subtype H1N1 H5N1 – Influenza virus A, subtype H5N1 HIV/AIDS – Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome HPAI – Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza EPI – Expanded program for immunization FAO – Food and Agriculture Organization IFRC – International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies NGO – Non-governmental organization OIE – World Organization for Animal Health RNA – Ribonucleic acid SARS – Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome U.K. – United Kingdom UN – United Nations UNICEF – United Nations Children’s Fund UNWTO – World Tourism Organization U.S. – United States USAID – United States Agency for International Development WHO – World Health Organization BEYOND PANDEMICS: A WHOLE-OF-SOCIETY APPROACH TO DISASTER PREPAREDNESS III IV BEYOND PANDEMICS: A WHOLE-OF-SOCIETY APPROACH TO DISASTER PREPAREDNESS TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD ...................................................................................................................................... 1 WHAT IS TOWARDS A SAFER WORLD? .................................................................................. 3 CHAPTER ONE: The Global Health Sector .................................................................................. 9 CHAPTER TWO: Multi-Sector Pandemic Preparedness ............................................................ 27 CHAPTER THREE: ASEAN’s Experience with Multi-Sector Pandemic Preparedness .......... 41 CHAPTER FOUR: Civil-Military Collaboration in Pandemic Preparedness .......................... 55 CHAPTER FIVE: Community-Level Pandemic Preparedness and Humanitarian Support .. 69 CHAPTER SIX: Animal Health ...................................................................................................... 85 CHAPTER SEVEN: Private Sector Preparedness and Business Continuity Planning ............ 103 CHAPTER EIGHT: Risk Communication .................................................................................... 119 CHAPTER NINE: Supply Chain and Logistics Preparedness ..................................................... 135 CHAPTER TEN: Travel and Tourism Sectors ............................................................................... 149 BEYOND PANDEMICS: A WHOLE-OF-SOCIETY APPROACH TO DISASTER PREPAREDNESS V VI BEYOND PANDEMICS: A WHOLE-OF-SOCIETY APPROACH TO DISASTER PREPAREDNESS FOREWORD Between 2005 and 2011, national governments, businesses, local authorities, civil defense and military forces, community organizations and citizens’ groups through- out the world became aware of the threat of an infectious and lethal disease pandemic caused by an influenza virus. The 2005–2011 six-year period of pandemic preparedness involved thousands of different organizations and millions of professional and volunteer workers. It not only focused on actions to reduce risks of infection and its consequences. It also provided a low-cost complement to the essential work of animal health and public health professionals engaged in vital efforts to prevent the emergence of novel diseases, limit transmission between species, and—through biomedical interventions—reduce the risk of individuals being infected and the severity of infections. During the last six years, it also became clear that the whole-of-society preparedness by multiple stakeholders also helped them prepare for other wide-ranging, unpredictable threats capable of affecting multiple locations progressively over time. Many of those who became engaged in the pandemic preparedness movement have found that the lessons from their experiences have application in other crisis preparedness work. Launched in September 2010, the Towards a Safer World initiative is a systemic effort to document experiences within different countries, among groups of stakeholders and within different sectors to examine: 1) what has been learnt from six years of worldwide pandemic preparedness, 2) what lessons could be applied as a result of this learning, and where to apply them, and 3) how might these lessons most usefully be applied. The world experienced an influenza pandemic due to Influenza A (H1N1) in 2009– 2010: Towards a Safer World was able to examine ways in which groups of stakeholders responded and to assess the effectiveness of whole-of-society preparedness efforts. Fortunately, H1N1 was mild, but many lessons were learnt from the approaches, tools, and ways of working developed by those involved in pandemic preparedness. The United Nations system, with generous support from several national governments and in close collaboration with partners from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, and military actors, has led the analytical phase of Towards a Safer World. The U.S. government, the World Food Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization, and the World Bank contributed BEYOND PANDEMICS: A WHOLE-OF-SOCIETY APPROACH TO DISASTER PREPAREDNESS 1 expertise and a range of specialists prepared reports looking at achievements and lessons from pandemic preparedness across 11 thematic areas. These reports are available at www.towardsasaferworld.org and are summarized in this book, which gathers the key findings of each of those 11 individual reports into one coherent whole. Some of the key themes emerging include: 1) the need for government, civil society, and the private sector to work together in preparedness for major threats, 2) the advances in good practice in business continuity planning and contingency planning that the pandemic movement helped to stimulate, 3) the value of well-designed simulation exercises, 4) the importance of communications in crisis preparedness and response, and 5) the need to invest greater funding in preparedness efforts. Following the one-year period of analysis, Towards a Safer World’s findings will be discussed at a high-level workshop in Rome, 15-16 September 2011, bringing together preparedness leaders and experts from governments, the private sector, civil society, the United Nations, and the military. The analysis and conclusions will be reviewed with a view to addressing the three critical questions above. Key outcomes will be reported on www.towardsasaferworld.org. After the workshop, different stakeholder groups will continue to disseminate and apply the lessons in wider preparedness efforts. The workshop participants will consider whether to support this effort—for example, through a time-limited network on planning for unpredictable potentially global events that may severely damage people’s health, societal resilience, economic systems, and political stability. We intend that this summary of the workshop papers will help you advance your own organization’s disaster preparedness efforts, and sustain readiness for the continuing threat of an emerging infectious disease. David Nabarro UN System Influenza Coordination 2 BEYOND PANDEMICS: A WHOLE-OF-SOCIETY APPROACH TO DISASTER PREPAREDNESS INTRODUCTION What is Towards a Safer World? Global biological disasters have occurred several times over the last two decades. The social, political, and economic consequences of previously unknown diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy served as a major wake-up call to the world. In 1997, a new influenza virus—the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1—burst onto the scene when an outbreak among birds near Hong Kong spilled over into the human population. The extremely high virulence of HPAI H5N1
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