# 1686
Over the past year the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has become increasingly more accessible to the public through their summit meetings with citizens groups, and blogging on the Internet.
Michael Leavitt, after sensing the power of the HHS's Pandemic Leadership Blog last year, now maintains a blog of his own. While this sort of outreach by a large government agency is novel, and still experimental, it deserves our praise and encouragement.
Today, Dr. William Raub, the HHS's science advisor, answered questions submitted by members of the Flu Wiki flu forum, providing us with a better understanding of where the government stands on pandemic preparedness.
The questions are thoughtful, the answers are illuminating, and the entire process is a credit to the HHS, Dr. Raub, and the Internet flu community that is being recognized more with each passing day as an important partner in the battle against a possible pandemic.
Two threads on this are available on the Flu Wiki.
First, the thread where questions were posed by members of the Internet flu community. Over two weeks time, dozens of questions were submitted. DemfromCt, editor of the Flu Wiki, synthesized these down into a short list, and submitted it to Dr. Raub.
The questions and answers may be read here:
Question and Answer with William Raub
Whether you agree with the answers given, or the positions taken by the US government, the dialog is important and groundbreaking.
Kudos' to all involved.
