The Pandemic Preparedness Capacity Map identifies by country the diverse range of current NGO capacities that indicate the level of community preparedness or that could potentially be leveraged in a pandemic situation. It identifies those capacities already on the ground as an indicator of the level of preparedness of communities as well as response capacities of NGOs – including health programs, disaster preparedness programs, food security programs, community outreach and media programs, etc. The data for this map is in the process of being populated.

The map is a joint initiative of InterAction and USAID, in support of the multi-agency Humanitarian Pandemic Preparedness Initiative.

Background on Pandemic Influenza:

Influenza is a highly contagious, acute illness which has afflicted humans and animals since ancient times. Influenza viruses infect a large variety of animal species, including humans, pigs, horses, sea mammals and birds, occasionally producing devastating pandemics in humans, such as in 1918, when over twenty million deaths occurred world-wide. Frequent epidemics have occurred between the pandemics as a result of gradual change in the prevalent virus, termed antigenic drift. There is agreement among scientists that another pandemic is will occur at some time in the future but when this will happen remains very uncertain..

Due to the increase and ease of global travel and higher population concentrations, if an influenza pandemic were to appear with similar virulence to that in 1918 – estimated to have killed more than 40 million people in less than a year – healthcare systems could rapidly be overburdened; schools, banks, stores and government offices closed; transportation and public utilities, including the water supply, interrupted; and the social order disrupted.

All nations could to be affected by an influenza pandemic, but developing countries will be among the most vulnerable. Unlike the aftermath in more common large-scale disasters, access to aid (supplies and manpower) from traditional donor countries could be very limited or even non existent while the ‘industrialised world’ struggled against the pandemic within its own borders. In countries where health systems are often not available in poor or remote areas, stockpiling supplies is either extremely complex or simply impossible for people at, or below, subsistence levels. When faced with more immediate threats to daily existence, inevitably, preparing for an influenza pandemic too often takes a low priority.

In short, there is an unprecedented need – and, now, the opportunity – for such communities to make ready for a widespread and potentially devastating emergency that has yet to materialise.

The Humanitarian Pandemic Preparedness Initiative:

Coordinated by the Geneva-based International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the Humanitarian Pandemic Preparedness (H2P) Initiative is a three year USAID-funded programme (October 2007 through September 2010) aiming to build a chain of health and disaster management tools and practices as an essential prerequisite to generating a fully prepared and deployable (‘off-the-shelf’) capacity of community first-responders during an influenza pandemic. These essential front-liners will provide the most rapid, coordinated and effective response possible, designed to limit morbidity and mortality, safeguard livelihoods and maintain societal cohesion and integrity. This will be accomplished by underpinning – and, as necessary, driving – community-level planning/mechanisms for organizing, coordinating and delivering an effective humanitarian response in countries deemed to be most vulnerable to a pandemic influenza outbreak.

The international organization and agencies that comprise the H2P Initiative are as follows:

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the overall coordinating agency, also providing technical and financial support to national Red Cross Red Crescent societies and NGOs to implement pandemic preparedness activities. It will hire or oversee experts, consultants and technical working groups tasked to develop appropriate tools and protocols in three specific priority areas: health, food security and livelihoods. Other fields of interest will also be examined, including exercises and simulations, training and assessment. Finally IFRC will facilitate coordination between partners in keeping the wider Red Cross Red Crescent Movement informed on H2P advances.

The CORE Group will lead the H2P health technical working group, responsible for the development and design of guidelines and materials related to care for the ill, reducing person-to-person transmission, and lowering excess mortality from common (non-flu) illnesses in a pandemic. Additionally, CORE will seek opportunities to stimulate country-level coordination of NGOs in sharing experiences and progress on pandemic preparedness efforts. In selected countries, CORE will support some pilot implementation of health activities in districts and communities in which NGOs are working.
AI.COMM, managed by the Academy for Educational Development (AED) is the paramount partner in behavioural change and communication. In addition to the development of communication materials, it will take the lead in formative research and coordinate the H2P food security working group tasked with identifying viable food security measures at community level.

InterAction will take responsibility for communication with the PVO sector. It will also map out INGO and their partners’ programmatic capacities (programmes, activities, staff/volunteers) at national and district levels that may be mobilised for disaster response. InterAction will also coordinate three major regional meetings aimed at introducing the Initiative on a larger scale in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

WHO, the World Food Programme (WFP) and other UN agencies are also in receipt of pandemic preparedness funding from USAID and are collaborating with the International Federation and its partners. These agencies will focus on national level planning with governments and normative guidance.

For more information, contact: Elizabeth Bellardo (ebellardo@interaction.org)

The mapping shapes files are from ESRI Data & Maps [CD-ROM]. (2002). Redlands, CA: Environmental Systems Research Institute.