Medical Journal of Australia warns of weaknesses in Australian pandemic planning

The Medical Journal of Australia has produced a detailed supplement which looks at various aspects of pandemic planning in the country.

Although many of the papers are aimed at the medical profession, it also includes much general advice of use to business continuity professionals. The following papers are particularly worth reading, and are currently openly available on the Journal’s website:

- The Australian response: pandemic influenza preparedness
John S Horvath, Moira McKinnon and Leslee Roberts — Med J Aust 2006; 185 (10): S35-S38.

- Infection control and pandemic influenza
Peter J Collignon and John A Carnie — Med J Aust 2006; 185 (10): S54-S57.

- Antivirals in the management of an influenza pandemic
Mary Ellen Harrod, Sean Emery and Dominic E Dwyer — Med J Aust 2006; 185 (10): S58-S61.

- Pandemic vaccines: promises and pitfalls
Robert Booy, Lorena E Brown, Gary S Grohmann and C Raina MacIntyre — Med J Aust 2006; 185 (10): S62-S65.

- Pandemic influenza and critical infrastructure dependencies: possible impact on hospitals
Ralf L Itzwerth, C Raina MacIntyre, Smita Shah and Aileen J Plant — Med J Aust 2006; 185 (10): S70-S72.

- Ethical issues in pandemic planning
Adrienne Torda — Med J Aust 2006; 185 (10): S73-S76.

- Epilogue: Preparing for an influenza pandemic in Australia
Sean Emery, Dominic E Dwyer and Moira McKinnon — Med J Aust 2006; 185 (10): S80.

The paper ‘Pandemic influenza and critical infrastructure dependencies: possible impact on hospitals’ warns that many pandemic plans have failed to consider the cascading of pandemic impacts. It highlights the potential fragility of the supply chain and says that organisations can not assume that telecoms supplies, power supplies and other elements of critical infrastructure will remain available during a pandemic.

All the above papers can be read as html and PDF versions here.

•Date: 29th Nov 2006• Region: Australia •Type: Article •Topic: Pandemic planning
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