Chronological overview of the 2009/2010 H1N1 influenza pandemic and the response of the Centre for Infectious Disease Control (RIVM)

ECDC comment

3 September 2011

The Centre for Infectious Disease Control (CIb) of the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) has compiled a chronological overview of that country’s response to the 2009 influenza A(H1N1) pandemic. In the Netherlands, the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) bore the responsibility of coordinating the national response to the influenza pandemic. The Centre for Infectious Disease Control (CIb) of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), under the authority of VWS, worked in close collaboration with a large number of organizations. The actions undertaken by the CIb went well beyond its routine activities. Under tremendous time pressure, crisis response guidelines needed to be developed and existing ones modified to meet the demands of the situation – all with great care and in close consultation with all parties involved. The many response activities had to be continuously adapted to the changing circumstances.

Chronological overview of the 2009/2010 H1N1 influenza pandemic and the response of the Centre for Infectious Disease Control (RIVM)

Centre for Infectious Disease Control (CIb), National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), the Netherlands, July 2011

The aim of this report is to provide a systematically documented chronological overview of the many events that took place and the control measures taken during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic from the viewpoint of the CIb. It has been written for policy-makers and health care professionals who were actively involved in the control and the effects of this pandemic. This report was commissioned by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport and is intended to serve – alongside other sources – as core information for the evaluation of the policy adopted in the Netherlands during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. In order to structure the information, the pandemic has been split up into six periods that each focussed on a different aspect of the response. For each of these six periods, the information has been grouped around the following themes: situation, diagnostics, control, government communications, meetings and vaccination policy. Both the national and international aspects of each of these themes are well described on the report.

The report also includes a very comprehensive list of the national and international publications from the CIb relating to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, updated as of December 2010, and can be found at the link above.