Pandemic Campaign Takes Lesson From History

According to this article, in the event of an avian influenza outbreak, young people between the ages of 18 to 24 have the highest risk of contracting the disease. The article refers to a study released by the World Health Organization (WHO), indicating that 90 percent of people who have been diagnosed with avian flu were under the age of 40. The article also refers to the Spanish flu of 1918, where young people were often the victims of the flu.

According to the article, public health officials in Ottawa, Canada are working with students to create a pandemic awareness campaign for Ottawa’s post-secondary students. The campaign is the initiative of a student from the University of Ottawa, and has so far resulted in the production of a video and website blog to keep young people up-to-date and informed on pandemic information. Officials hope that the website will become an important source of information for young people.

According to Jill Courtemanche, an emergency preparedness health specialist with the city of Ottawa’s public health unit, university students are at a high risk of infection because they gather in groups on campus, they ignore public health warnings and they tend not to get flu shots. She said that the goal of the awareness campaign is “to convince the public to stop relying on government and to think and act for themselves. That includes having people get back to old-fashioned health habits, such as washing their hands thoroughly and avoiding handshakes after sneezing.”