The National Board of Health and Welfare has a co-ordinating role in the work carried out to prepare society for future outbreaks of communicable diseases.
The contingency planning for an epidemic or pandemic involves extensive international co-operation. Accordingly, The Unit for Communicable Disease Prevention and Control takes active part in the work of the EU and WHO in this field. The planning must also take into consideration that someone may try to spread an infectious agent in the society deliberately.
Influenza
The National Board of Health and Welfare is responsible for co-ordinating the Swedish contingency planning for an influenza pandemic. The basis for this work is a strategy document which contains a description and analysis of the prerequisites − legal, medical and organizational − required for effective measures against influenza.
National plans
At national level plans for an influenza pandemic are detailed in special documents.
Evaluations
A joint evaluation of Sweden's preparedness for an influenza pandemic was made by ECDC and the National Board of Health and Welfare in 2007. The result can be found in the document below.
An evaluation report, commissioned by the Government, of the work to prepare Sweden for an outbreak of pandemic influenza, and of the way the A(H1N1) 2009 influenza pandemic was managed once it had broken out, was published in the spring of 2011.
Zoonotic influenza
Influenza can also be a zoonotic disease (transmitted between animals and humans). Examples are avian influenza and swine influenza. The National Board of Health and Welfare is involved in contingency planning for zoonotic influenza and other zoonotic diseases together with the Swedish Board of Agriculture and other government agencies.