From the time of the earliest civilisations, pandemics have eternally been a reality of human existence. The 21^st century will be no exception and there is a growing and overwhelming body of evidence from medical and scientific communities around the world to suggest that the next pandemic event is imminent. The challenge for our society is to mitigate the impact of the next event to as great an extent as possible.

OPEC has been working with the first response and health communities for many years to design and supply an arsenal of practical and effective tools and equipment for use in the management of a pandemic influenza. The following sections detail the results of this work.