Lessons from the response to A H1N1 influenza, 2009, India: ethics in pandemic planning

After the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) experience in 2003, ethics has found a place in discourses on pandemic planning and public health. It is no longer enough to merely have action strategies in a pandemic plan; both research literature and the World Health Organization recommend that one has to further ensure that the outcome of such action is fair to all concerned, and is in conformity with relevant ethical values and considerations. India's pandemic plan suffers from a glaring omission in this aspect. Taking strategies and responses during the 2009 A H1N1 outbreak in India as instances, this paper identifies the lessons to be learnt from this experience and argues that these raise ethical issues ingrained in pandemic planning which must be addressed. It ends with the suggestion that the Indian health authorities should add an ethical dimension to the national pandemic plan, as has been recommended by the World Health Organization and by post-SARS studies.