While anti-viral medicines get most of the press coverage, the most important health measures with flu are simple personal hygiene and limiting large public gatherings. One new measure which can be applied is the use of the web for providing public information and also to replace some person-to-person contacts. The web can provide more detailed information than a TV or print announcement. The Internet can be used to replace some face-to-face contacts during a pandemic, to keep services operating while reducing the spread of disease.

The ANU web design students learn about how to design web sites for use in emergencies and disaster management. So last week I set them the task of designing a better flu information web site for the Australian government. The site the government ha\d set up for swine flu had a lot of information, but much of it was for health professionals and other officials, and of less use to the general public. Since then I have noticed the government has made their site more readable: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2009/05/designing-influenza-pandemic-web-site.html