WHO releases far-reaching strategy to fight influenza

The WHO just launched a new 11-year global strategy to combat influenza, the most comprehensive such plan for flu in the agency’s history. The goals: prevent seasonal flu outbreaks, curb the spread of the flu from animals to humans, and prepare for the next pandemic of the disease. “The threat of pandemic influenza is ever-present,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. The WHO’s strategy also includes increased disease surveillance and the development of better vaccines and antiviral drugs.