EU has achieved much in pandemic preparedness, but more still to be done

The European Union and its member states have made major progress in preparing against an influenza pandemic - but they still have at least two more years of work to do, concludes a report prepared for the European Commission by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

The report says that additional efforts need to be made in areas such as: consistency of planning across all government departments; implementation at local level; coordination at European level; research on influenza; and response to seasonal influenza. The report has been prepared with information and input from the 25 countries which were EU member states in 2006, plus Iceland and Norway. A further progress report is planned for late 2007.

Commenting on the conclusions, ECDC Director Zsuzsanna Jakab said: "since 2005 health authorities across the EU have put major efforts into improving their preparedness against a pandemic. This has been an almost unprecedented response against a threat that has yet to come. The challenge now is for governments and EU bodies to sustain the momentum for a further two or three years, to do the work identified in this report. If this is done, then EU countries will be in a position to respond well to a pandemic."