National preparedness plan for an influenza pandemic. Helsinki 2007. 191 pp. (Publications of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, ISSN 1236-2050, 2007:10) ISBN 978-952-00-2326-3 (PDF)

In the face of an increasing threat of an influenza pandemic, WHO has repeatedly urged its member countries to update their pandemic preparedness plans, and published strategic and technical instructions and recommendations for their guidance. Preparedness for a flu pandemic has recently been discussed on a number of occasions in the various organs of the European Council.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health set up a Working Group on National Pandemic Preparedness on 21 April 2005, whose remit was to draw up a national pandemic preparedness plan. Its objective is to confine the harmful effects of a potential influenza pandemic on the population’s health and to secure the best possible continuity of the society’s functions. On the basis of the proposal, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has compiled a national preparedness plan for an influenza pandemic. This preparedness plan has been accepted in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health management group and in the Government Meetings of the Heads of Preparedness.

The purpose of the preparedness plan is to set up guidelines for flu pandemic preparedness at all administrative levels of healthcare and to support preparations in other administrative sectors.

The preparedness plan paints a picture applicable to Finnish conditions of development of a pandemic, its health, societal and economic impact, available means of its prevention, special ethical questions, areas of responsibility and special arrangements of healthcare organisations, material requirements of preparedness, needs for collaboration between different administrative sectors and special characteristics of organisation during a pandemic, as well as communication and pro-vision of information. The preparedness plan examines a pandemic from a wide perspective, creating a foundation for detailed plans of all administrative sectors. For practical reasons, this preparedness plan includes only brief outlines of plans other than that of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health administrative sector. A prerequisite of effective implementation is integration of the plans of different administrative sectors.

Management relations during a pandemic are determined in accordance with the Government model for Government civilian crisis management.

At the municipal level, the organ responsible for prevention of communicable diseases plays a central role in pandemic preparedness and during a pandemic. The hospital district physicians responsible for communicable diseases act as experts in planning at the regional and local levels.

A preparedness plan must change with changes in perceived threat, the operating environment and methods of prediction and prevention. For this reason, a preparedness plan is never ‘finished’, and it will be updated as essential changes occur in the pandemic situation. An influenza pandemic may be set into motion soon or it may take years, and the virus that will cause it is not necessarily a current influenza virus subtype. Being prepared for a flu pandemic simultaneously significantly reinforces Finland’s preparedness to repel any other widespread, transnational or global epidemic. The set structures for repelling infectious diseases reinforced by preparedness support important areas of continuous protection against infectious diseases, and thus promote health of the population. Preparedness supports safeguarding of vital functions of society.

Key words : preventive healthcare, quarantine, infectious diseases, inoculation, protection, preparedness, influenza