Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
California caused as many as 141 deaths, leading “coroners ... [to deal with] the
large jump in the number of bodies that were stuffed, some piled on top of others,
into the freezers at the Fresno County morgue.”
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Another consideration for planning for pandemics is the very nature of human
behavior. It is well known that such behavior is nonlinear, and therefore might seem
unpredictable. However, if sufficient information is known about a community's
culture, historical actions, and motivations, behavior can be predicted with some
fidelity. Unfortunately, a deep understanding of all these factors is seldom possible,
particularly after a pandemic has started. Therefore, the more a community knows
about itself and its underlying structure, and the more that knowledge is factored
into preparedness planning, the more effective that planning will be.
When developing a plan that fits a community, it is important to consider all
aspects of that population. There are five major aspects to consider: (1) culture of
the group; (2) policies, strategies, and plans in place; (3) economics, management,
and budgeting of the entities involved; (4) governance and operations; and (5) tech-
nology implemented to deal with a crisis (e.g., information databases, communica-
tion networks).
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Planners must thoroughly understand all five aspects. For instance, if the cul-
ture of a group is to be prepared, but the policies for preparedness are not in place,
or the technologies to enable the group to be thoroughly prepared are not imple-
mented, preparedness might not be possible. Similarly, developing plans for such
preparedness must take into account all these elements, or the plans will not work.
Economic Impacts of Pandemics
As described in the section “Psychosocial Concerns of Pandemics,” the effects of
pandemics go well beyond health, and specifically impact the economic wellbeing
of a community. The economic toll that pandemics can impose is tremendous and
far-reaching.
The economic cost occurs at both ends of a pandemic. Costs to prepare the
population for pandemics can be enormous, as can costs to respond to and recover
from the health crisis itself. For example, within days of the first outbreaks of the
Swine Flu in early 2009, the World Bank alone responded to the pandemic with
“fast disbursing funds” ($25 million for drugs and supplies, and $180 million for
epidemiologic, regulatory, institutional, and operational activities
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), and many
other agencies and institutions followed course. These amounts are likely only a
portion of the total amount of funding applied; where those funds were found and
what other programs were impacted is unknown at this writing, but costs associ-
ated with a pandemic were and will be high.
As another example, in November 2005, the Bush administration requested
$7.1 billion in emergency funding for pandemic preparedness
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(although less fund-
ing was ultimately made available to planners and responders, the majority of this
