Public Response to Community Mitigation Measures for Pandemic Influenza

Results from a national survey indicated that most persons would follow public health officials’ guidelines

Resilience thinking in health protection.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, the term 'resilience' has gained increasing currency in discussions of emergency preparedness. This review identifies key concepts and explores the relevance of resilience for disaster planning and public health protection. METHODS: A systematic review of literature on concepts of resilience, with a narrative summary of key relevant concepts for public health. RESULTS: The key concepts identified were community resilience, disaster resilience and social-ecological resilience. Community and disaster resilience describe a community's intrinsic capacity to resist and recover from a disturbance, while the social-ecological interpretation stresses the importance of thresholds in a society's capacity to adapt to crises. Important elements of resilience include communication, learning, adaptation, risk awareness and 'social capital'. CONCLUSIONS: These concepts have clear relevance for public health and emergency planning. Resilient communities should be less dependent on external help in times of disaster. Many features of resilience also encompass the wider social and economic determinants of public health. Difficulties remain in defining and measuring resilience in the population health context

Pandemic influenza and community preparedness

Objectives. We aimed to examine community knowledge about and attitudes toward the threat of pandemic influenza and assess the community acceptability of strategies to reduce its effect. Methods. We conducted computer-aided telephone interviews in 2007 with a cross-sectional sample of rural and metropolitan residents of South Australia. Results. Of 1975 households interviewed, half (50.2%) had never heard of pandemic influenza or were unaware of its meaning. Only 10% of respondents were extremely concerned about the threat of pandemic influenza. Respondents identified children as the highest priority for vaccination, if supplies were limited; they ranked politicians and teachers as the lowest priority. Although only 61.7% of respondents agreed with a policy of home isolation, 98.2% agreed if it was part of a national strategy. Respondents considered television to be the best means of educating the community. Conclusions. Community knowledge about pandemic influenza is poor despite widespread concern. Public education about pandemic influenza is essential if strategies to reduce the impact of the disease are to be effective.Helen Marshall, Philip Ryan, Don Roberton, Jackie Street, and Maureen Watso