International Influenza

For the latest summaries of global influenza surveillance, visit Influenza Surveillance and Monitoring . For a summary of influenza activity in the United States, see FluView.

University students enrolled in health care programs line up to get their influenza vaccine. Casablanca, Morocco. 2014-2015 influenza season.

Morocco’s latest flu surveillance report indicates the country is currently experiencing its flu season. Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09, influenza A (H3N2), and influenza B viruses are co-circulating, with H1N1 viruses predominating and causing the majority of flu-related hospitalizations.

In 2006, Morocco began working under a cooperative agreement with CDC to conduct influenza surveillance. Since then, data from Morocco’s surveillance system have been used to estimate the country’s burden of influenza and define its seasonality, pointing to the possible benefit of Morocco having its own national flu vaccination program for certain groups. In light of those data, in 2013 Morocco worked with CDC to expand the country’s existing flu vaccine policy, and the next year Morocco implemented a larger influenza vaccination campaign. Morocco purchased 100,000 doses of vaccine as it had during previous years, and with technical expertise from CDC and help from the Partnership for Influenza Vaccine Introduction (PIVI) and The Task Force for Global Health, also received a donation of roughly 123,000 doses of vaccine. Morocco’s flu vaccination campaign targeted the elderly and persons with diabetes, two groups of people at high risk of flu-related complications, along with health care personnel, Hajj pilgrims and university students enrolled in health care programs. While Morocco’s vaccination policy had for years included mandatory flu vaccination for public sector health professionals and pilgrims traveling to Islamic holy sites, targeting persons at high risk of flu-related complications with a national campaign was a first for the country. Morocco drew on its existing network of diabetes clinics and distributed vaccine during roughly ten weeks from November 2014 to January 2015, resulting in a successful campaign.