Economic and social impact of epidemic and pandemic influenza.

Amidst the human suffering caused an influenza epidemic it is all too easy to overlook the disease's wider social and economic impact. Not only does influenza impose huge infrastructure demands on health care systems, but it exacts substantial economic costs in terms of sickness-related absenteeism, disrupted work schedules and lost productivity to society at large. Influenza accounts for around 10% of sickness-related absence from work in Europe where the likely cost of lost productivity in France and Germany, for example, ranges from 5.6 billion pounds to 8.5 billion pounds per year, according to ESWI estimates. But how to assess the full economic impact of influenza? The direct costs are easily enough identified, but what about the indirect costs? How should these be measured? How for example, does one assess the cost of lost opportunities, and what are the economic gains of vaccination regarding avoided costs? Finally, which target groups for vaccination would generate the greatest avoided costs? Leaving aside the moral implications of such a question, the fact remains that politicians and health policymakers need the cold hard figures to optimally allocate the costs of vaccination and preventative health campaigns. These issues and more were clearly delineated during this session, co-chaired by Drs. T. Szucs of the University of Zurich and K. Nichol of the University of Minnesota