Pandemic influenza response

Abstract

Recent incidents of avian flu (H5N1) in Asia and the pandemic influenza cases in history (1918, 1957 and 1968) suggest that a future pandemic influenza is inevitable and likely imminent. Governments and non-governmental organizations prepare response plans on how to react to a pandemic influenza. In this paper, we study the logistics side of the problem, specifically, food distribution logistics during the pandemic influenza. For this purpose, we develop a disease spread model that assists in estimating the food need geographically at a given time. Then, we develop an integrated solution approach called the Dynamic Update Approach to build the food distribution network. We run our integrated disease spread and facility location model for the state of Georgia and present the estimated number of infections and meals needed in each census tract for a one year period.