Influenza as an issue on the agenda of different stakeholders. A multidisciplinary point of view

Medical science has made breathtaking advances during the last 100 years against many of mankinds deadliest diseases, but influenza lurks always in the background--a silent ever-mutating killer, waiting to spring forth as the next pandemic. Researchers, industry and international health organizations are acutely aware of the threat and are racing to develop the medicinal and preventative means to confront it. But are individual governments, policymakers and healthcare workers around the world ready? Unfortunately, most are not, even in highly developed regions, such as Europe. Indeed, the need across the continent for dialogue and tight coordination among all stakeholders in the fight against influenza grows more urgent daily, as speaker after speaker confirmed during the opening session of ESWI's Second European Influenza Conference in Malta.