Respiratory viruses represent a significant public health threat. There is the need for robust and coordinated surveillance to guide global health responses. Established in 2012, the Global Influenza Hospital Surveillance Network (GIHSN) addresses this need by collecting clinical and virological data on persons with acute respiratory illnesses across a network of hospitals worldwide. GIHSN utilizes a standardized patient enrolment and data collection protocol across its study sites. It leverages pre-existing national infrastructures and expert collaborations to facilitate comprehensive data collection. This includes demographic, clinical, epidemiological, and virologic data, and whole genome sequencing (WGS) for a subset of viruses. Sequencing data are shared in the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID). GIHSN uses financing and governance approaches centered around public-private partnerships. Over time, GIHSN has included more than 100 hospitals across 27 countries and enrolled more than 168,000 hospitalized patients, identifying 27,562 cases of influenza and 44,629 of other respiratory viruses. GIHSN has expanded beyond influenza to include other respiratory viruses, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic. In November 2023, GIHSN strengthened its global impact through a memorandum of understanding with the World Health Organization, aimed at enhancing collaborative efforts and data sharing for improved health responses. GIHSN exemplifies the value of integrating scientific research with public health initiatives through global collaboration and public-private partnerships governance. Future efforts should enhance the scalability of such models and ensure their sustainability through continued public and private support.

• Keywords
• influenza, international, public–private partnerships, respiratory viruses, surveillance,
• MeSH
• Global Health MeSH
• Influenza, Human * epidemiology   virology   MeSH
• COVID-19 epidemiology   MeSH
• Epidemiological Monitoring MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Hospitals MeSH
• Public Health Surveillance * MeSH
• Public-Private Sector Partnerships MeSH
• Public Health * MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

BACKGROUND: Influenza is a relatively serious infection that causes considerable morbidity and mortality. Epidemics of influenza are reported almost every year. METHODS: Based on the Czech national all-cause mortality and acute respiratory infection/influenza-like illness surveillance data for the 1999/2000 to 2019/2020 influenza seasons, excess deaths attributable to influenza were estimated using the threshold derived as 90th percentile of death counts during nonepidemic periods. Daily death counts broken by the 5-year age intervals were modelled via Poisson generalised additive model. RESULTS: The estimated total number of excess deaths from influenza during study period was 22,306. Thus, the mean total of excess deaths related to influenza per season was 1062 for the age group 40-94 years. The total number of excess deaths increased steadily with age from the 40-44 age group to the 85-89 age group, which accounted for the highest percentage of excess deaths (17%), followed closely by the 80-84 age group (16%). The age groups 40-44 years and 45-49 years contributed the least (3% each). More than three quarters of excess deaths occurred at age 65 and over (17,027 cases; 76%). Relative numbers of excess deaths per 100,000 population peaked in the oldest age groups of 85-89 and 90-94 years. CONCLUSIONS: We estimate that at least 0.98% of all-cause mortality throughout the study period was attributable to influenza in the Czech Republic. This excess is not negligible, and public health actions in the field of influenza prevention are vitally needed.

• Keywords
• excess mortality, influenza, morbidity, mortality,
• MeSH
• Influenza, Human * mortality   epidemiology   MeSH
• Child MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Infant MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Infant, Newborn MeSH
• Child, Preschool MeSH
• Seasons MeSH
• Aged, 80 and over MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Check Tag
• Child MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Infant MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Infant, Newborn MeSH
• Child, Preschool MeSH
• Aged, 80 and over MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic epidemiology   MeSH