‘Living memorial’ proposed
A RESEARCH fund would be a fitting legacy of the centenary of the 1918 flu pandemic, designed to help prevent similar disasters befalling New Zealand, two University of Otago academics from the Wellington campus say.
In the latest issue of the New Zealand Medical Journal, Profs Michael Baker and Nick Wilson reviewed the 1918 influenza outbreak and the lessons to be learned from it today.
The pandemic claimed about 9000 lives in New Zealand in just three months — half the number who died in the whole 191418 war.
‘‘That is equivalent to losing 37,000 New Zealanders as a proportion of today’s population,’’ Prof Baker said.
‘‘At the peak of the pandemic, an estimated 440 people died in a single day, equivalent to 1820 deaths in today’s numbers . . . as researchers we are regularly quoting figures of people who become ill and die, but most of us have trouble even conceiving of these sorts of numbers.’’
New Zealand’s public health system was dramatically overhauled in the wake of the pandemic and prevention measures put in place.
Those have been further reviewed in recent years, and New Zealand now regularly stages pandemic preparedness exercises.
The most recent, Exercise Pomare, finished earlier this year.
A new Ministry of Health report on its effectiveness rated it a success and recommended such exercises be held every four years, at least.
‘‘A research fund would be a fitting living memorial for the victims of the flu pandemic — including health workers and community volunteers,’’ Prof Baker said.
‘‘It is important not to let this anniversary pass without remembering the terrible impact this pandemic had on the country — an event that was overshadowed at the time by the First World War.’’
Prof Wilson said a pandemic remained a genuine threat to New Zealand — either from new influenza strains or from other new pathogens.
‘‘If pandemic influenza arrived tomorrow it would be impossible to stop it spreading within New Zealand and it could be as lethal, or even more lethal, than it was in 1918.’’