Addressing Ethical Issues in Pandemic Influenza Planning

This group of documents represents a collection of resources and discussions held internationally on addressing ethical issues raised by the possibility of a pandemic disease, such as influenza. They include the following documents:

1. Introduction to a summary document from the World Health Organization (WHO) Department of Ethics, Trade, Human Rights and Health Law (ETH):
"The Ethics team of the Department of Ethics, Trade, Human Rights and Health Law (ETH) is working on a project to study the wide range of challenging ethical issues raised by a potential influenza pandemic. A Technical Meeting was held on 18-19 May 2006 in Geneva to examine the major issues and an international consultation was held on 24-25 October 2006. The conclusions and recommendations of these meetings are being used to draft a document on ethical considerations [PDF] in pandemic influenza planning."

2. New Zealand National Ethics Advisory Committee Ethical Values for Planning for and Responding to a Pandemic in New Zealand - A Statement for Discussion [PDF], a statement of ethical values for planning for and responding to a pandemic. Values that are recognised in Māori tikanga and kawa are identified, alongside other values. The statement is designed to be thought provoking, accessible to a wide range of people, useful at all stages of pandemic planning, and useful in a wide range of situations.

3. Documents from the July 2006 Bellagio meeting, sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, considering questions of social justice and the threat of avian and human pandemic influenza, with particular focus on the needs and interests of the world’s disadvantaged.

4. Pandemic Influenza and Ethics Stand on Guard for Thee [PDF], a report on ethical considerations in preparedness and planning for pandemic influenza by the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics.

5. The Provincial Health Ethics Network (PHEN), resources to Albertans to support systematic and thoughtful analysis of ethical issues in the health system.

6. Citizen Voices on Pandemic Flu Choices [PDF], a report of the Public Engagement Pilot Project on Pandemic Influenza, which describes the convening of a representative group of stakeholders and citizens-at-large, the structure and process of stakeholder and citizen dialogues and deliberations, and the decisions made and recommendations that were developed.

7. Plate-forme de reflexion pandemie grippale, an initiative by the Espace Ethique and the Université Paris-Sud 11 dedicated to the ethical aspects of a potential flu pandemic [in French].

8. Quebec Public Health Ethics Committee (Comité d’éthique de santé publique, CESP)[in French, PDF] opinion about the public health dimension of the Quebec plan for fighting against pandemic influenza.