Flu pandemic: practical guide to everyday life

France has activated the phase 5A of its National Plan for the Prevention and Control "Pandemic Influenza," which corresponds to a phase where the virus spreads among the human community in at least two countries without common boundaries of a single continent. This phase follows World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.

The government published and placed online in 2009 a "Flu Pandemic" national prevention and control plan, which lays out the country's preparation and response strategy in the face of such an event. These measures deal with its responsibilities and the capacities it can call upon. There are limits to these, meaning that in the event of a crisis, the government will have to respond to the most urgent situations. Furthermore, it does not fall to the government to manage on a daily basis all of the situations and problems with which each one of us may be faced. We must take responsibility for ourselves and adapt to developments in the pandemic situation. The occurrence of a flu pandemic is everybody's business.

Such a situation requires individual and collective preparation, as many of our plans, points of reference and normal activities will be disrupted. The government has set up the website "Flu pandemic practical guide to everyday life", which contains a constantly updated list of useful information and details the work carried out by different ministries.

The document "My daily life during a pandemic" gives an idea of what the conditions of day-to-day living could be like during a pandemic situation. Its goal is to enable individuals: * To gather information about the potential occurrence of a flu pandemic. * To understand the measures with which they will be asked to comply. * To tell others about the situation and to discuss with those around them (family, work colleagues, neighbours) the behaviours and attitude of mutual support that we should all adopt. * To know the basics in order to inform children or answer their questions.