[Study on risk awareness and preparedness for pandemic flu among staff members from enterprises].

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the risk awareness and preparedness related to pandemic flu in China.

METHODS

Two groups of people, mainly employers and employees from enterprises, were covered in the survey, using quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (in-depth interview) methods. The employers and employees were from joint-ventured corporations, large state-owned corporations and private companies which were randomly selected from 7 major cities in China.

RESULTS

(1) 82% of the people surveyed and interviewed had basic knowledge on pandemic flu. (2) 60% of the joint-ventured corporations had worked out or were working on their business continuity plan in the event of pandemic flu, compared to that of state-owned corporations and private companies that the figure was only 21% . (3) 67% of the joint-ventured corporations had informed their preparedness plan on pandemic flu to their employees, while that of the state-owned and private corporations, it was only 42 %. (4) About 70 % of the corporations was establishing policies for restricting travel to affected geographic areas (both domestic and international), evacuating the employees who working in or near the affected area when an outbreak began. (5) Nearly 60 % of the corporations thought annual flu vaccination was important and hence encouraging and tracking annual flu vaccination for employees. (6) 70% of the corporations paid high attention on providing sufficient and accessible supplies (e. g. hand - hygiene products, tissues and receptacles for their disposal) to control the epidemics in all business locations while nearly 76 % of the corporations were interested in purchasing commercial medical insurance.

CONCLUSION

Joint-verntured corporation were doing better than domestic corporations in terms of risk awareness and preparedness on pandemic flu, suggesting that the domestic corporation should learn from them regarding on pandemic flu preparedness to limit the negative impact of pandemic flu.