• A well-structured legal context has value and helps us to move forward with confidence.

• Engaging all stakeholders—government, private sector, particularly poultry producers, civil society, research groups, the Red Cross, and civil defense.

• Ensuring that our work leads to benefits for all. It doesn’t have to be a direct linkage, but there has to be some sign that benefits will be there, and they will be shared fairly.

• Building trust and being skilled at handling mistrust when it exists (because not all relationships are characterized by trust at all times). We need to insure against periods of mistrust that may build up in relationships that are otherwise very good and we have to know that we are able to cope with these periods.

• Providing compensation for those who are putting themselves out to do extra work, be it tracking cases of H5N1 in poultry or doing extra surveillance for humans that are affected. That doesn’t just apply to individuals; it applies to countries.

Getting the incentives right is worthwhile so that pandemic preparations are successfully put in place. The reward may well be that when the next severe influenza pandemic strikes, millions of people survive who might otherwise be expected to die. That is the ultimate incentive.

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Codex Alimentarius Commission, http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/index_en.jsp (accessed May 29, 2009).

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OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health). 2000. Agreement between the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization and the Office International des Epizooties adopted by PAHO/WHO and the OIE, http://www.oie.int/eng/OIE/accords/en_accord_ops.htm (accessed May 29, 2009).