Managing a possible crisis The threat of an avian influenza pandemic among humans is real and cities and local governments across the world are currently making plans to deal with an outbreak.
Decisive role of local governments The world’s cities have accrued considerable expertise and know-how in dealing with health and humanitarian crises. Thanks to past experience, it is clear that in the event of a major public health crisis, local governments have a decisive role to play in managing logistical considerations, disseminating information to their citizens and facilitating cooperation between them and the relevant authorities, even if the central government carries overall responsibility for managing the crisis. Past experience also demonstrates that contingency planning is crucial in order to deal with the crisis swiftly and effectively.
Learning lessons from past experiences In order to learn from past experiences and help local governments across the world prepare for a possible pandemic, UCLG has gathered the testimonies of those mayors and local government leaders who have already dealt with medical crises in their cities, and those that are now preparing plans to fight a possible avian flu pandemic in the future.
Interview with Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the WHO UCLG has also asked Doctor Margaret Chan - at the time Representative of the Director-General for Pandemic Influenza at the World Health Organisation - to give her invaluable insight on the role of local governments in the event of a pandemic. Dr Chan’s comments can be consulted by clicking here.
World Health Organisation The World Health Organisation is coordinating the global response to human cases of H5N1 avian influenza and monitoring the corresponding threat of an influenza pandemic. The link below gives access their special page on avian influenza, which tracks the evolving situation and provides access to both technical guidelines and information useful for the general public. It also includes the draft protocol for rapid response and containment which gives guidelines on recognizing, verifying and the different phases of containing the spread of avian influenza.
Paris webpage on avian flu
Paris's plan of action in case of avian flu (in French)
New York emergency plan
