AI.COMM - Avian and Pandemic Influenza Resource Link

FOREWOR
A letter from
the Chief of Party
2
In 2005 when AED was awarded its fi rst contract by USAID to provide
technical assistance in behavior change and communication to prevent and
contain the H5N1 virus in Southeast Asia, the idea of a pandemic becoming
a reality was seen by many as unlikely and alarmist. But four years later, the
pandemic struck, caused not by an avian virus originating in Southeast Asia,
but by an altogether different virus in our own hemisphere.
For the last 5 years, AED has been involved as a
key partner in the U.S. government’s efforts to
plan for and respond to pandemics, providing
leadership in behavior change and communication
for non-pharmaceutical interventions and
in promoting, training, and mobilizing at-risk
audiences for the deployment of H1N1 pandemic
infl uenza vaccines.
AI.COMM has embodied the concept of rapid
response in a quickly changing environment –
fi elding emergency communication experts to
help respond to outbreaks and quickly designing
and producing communication and training
materials and techniques. But the fundamental
shift in our communication response took place
as more and more epidemiologic information