A global flu pandemic is a realistic threat that the world must prepare for, the World Health Organization said March 11.

The organization revealed its global flu strategy for 2019-30, which focuses on addressing both seasonal flu outbreaks and global pandemics.

The WHO's flu strategy outlines two main initiatives:

Ensure every country has a strong flu surveillance and response program
Develop tools to better prevent, detect or treat the flu that are accessible to all countries
"The threat of pandemic influenza is ever-present," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said in a press release. "The question is not if we will have another pandemic, but when. We must be vigilant and prepared — the cost of a major influenza outbreak will far outweigh the price of prevention."
https://www.beckershospitalreview.co...en-not-if.html


8 Things to know about pandemic influenza
11 March 2019
The threat of pandemic influenza is ever-present. A pandemic can arise when a new influenza virus that hasn't affected humans before emerges, spreads and causes illness in humans.

Influenza viruses are unpredictable – we can never be certain of when or from where the next pandemic will arise. However, another influenza pandemic is inevitable. In this interconnected world, the question is not if we will have another pandemic, but when.

To protect people across the globe from this threat, the WHO has released a Global Influenza Strategy for 2019-2030. The new strategy is the most comprehensive and far reaching influenza strategy that WHO has developed. The strategy outlines a framework for WHO, countries and partners to work together to prepare for, prevent, and control the influenza.
https://www.who.int/news-room/featur...emic-influenza