Anticipation and response: pandemic influenza in Malawi, 2009

Sambala, Evanson Z.; Manderson, Lenore

In-depth interviews were conducted between January 2012 and January 2013, with this data complemented by a review of Malawi's pandemic preparedness plans, including the plan that was current at the time of the 2009 pandemic and subsequent revised versions. A question guide for a relatively unstructured interview was adopted, enabling the interviewer to cover essential points, while modifying the order of questions depending on the context and flow of conversation. This method provided flexibility for respondents to critique, comment, explain and share their experiences, opinions and attitudes as they wished. The interview guide included the following questions: (1) How would you describe the influenza preparedness plan before 2009? (2) How did you translate the pandemic plan into response actions during the 2009 pandemic outbreak? (3) What were the main operational problems, challenges and lessons learnt from the 2009 pandemic? and (4) How did you resolve problems during the 2009 pandemic? Before each interview, the researcher introduced himself and explained the purpose of the interview. Interview duration varied but ranged from 48 to 145 minutes (mean 70). Extended interviews afforded us in-depth data rather than breadth data that would cover all themes. This enabled us to build a convincing analytical narrative [17] . We were interested in individual perceptions and narratives of the processes, policies and programs, not in generalisability, and in this context, we were not concerned with generalising among participants.