Anticipation and response: pandemic influenza in Malawi, 2009

Sambala, Evanson Z.; Manderson, Lenore

Respondents noted that there were communication problems in disseminating information about the pandemic. For example, national authorities failed to warn districts, regions and local areas about the possible spread of the disease after the official outbreak announcement in Mexico, and one ministerial respondent said that scant attention was paid to educating the public on the need to contain infection. Respondents felt that the government and collaborating organisations could have done more to explain the cause, pattern of transmission, and impacts of the disease. An international agency representative commented that: 'Officials never sufficiently stressed the nature or duration of the pandemic in their preparedness plans, its spread, its peak and decline, nor did they sufficiently inform the public on these issues' (P11). Another ministerial policymaker maintained that due to communication problems, the local implementation team was unclear when to implement the plan, when to make vaccines and nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) available, and when to evaluate the interventions.