Page 15 - Smart public health emergency management and ICT implementations - A U4SSC deliverable on city platforms

to around 1.1–1.2 later in the summer of 2009 , which indicated that the virus was at the low end of
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transmissibility compared with the 1918 pandemic. More data than ever before was collected and
processed during the crisis. It was then possible to describe the scope, magnitude and severity of
the pandemic. Regarding the post-pandemic assessment, case fatality ratio (CFR) was calculated,
excluding vulnerable population groups (elderly, people with chronic diseases and children, etc.).
Moreover, an impact assessment framework was developed based on five measures of transmission
and three measures of severity, including community, school, and workplace attack rates; secondary
household attack rates; the basic reproductive number; the case-hospitalization ratio; and a death-
to-hospitalization ratio in addition to the CFR.

Among the primary suggestions that the CDC provided concerned personal protective equipment,
such as surgical masks. WHO declared H1N1 as a pandemic in June 2010 almost a year later and
the overall response process highlighted the most important lessons learned:

1. The importance of strong public health partnerships.

2. The availability of a wide range of resources.

3. The existence of preparedness planning.
4. The importance of electronic and automated data sources.

Figure 1: Generic public health operational process

U4SSC: Smart public health emergency management and ICT implementations 5