Research on influenza pandemic preparedness is helping to explain how best to save lives in each country when disease breaks out. Professor Richard Coker with his colleagues at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine’s unit in Bangkok has found that there are a variety of practical ways of preparing. He told Peter Goodwin that the most important point is to conduct research in your country to identify the measures which can help if flu breaks out, and distinguish these from ones which are ineffective, waste money and resources, or divert healthcare efforts from other sectors.