Proposed strategies for pandemic preparedness in many countries frequently focus on development and acquisition of pandemic vaccines and stockpiling and distribution of antiviral drugs [15] [16] . In the Southeast Asia region, while surveillance and outbreak response capacities have been strengthened in hope of early detection and control of outbreaks, there has been much less investment into preparing health systems for pandemic mitigation [17] . Modeling studies have been used to inform optimum intervention strategies for responding to pandemic influenza, but often neglect to take into account feasibility of health systems to implement such a response and the potential impact of resource shortages on the pandemic burden. Investigation of health system capacity in East and Southeast Asia is of particular interest, not only given the fertile conditions for the emergence and spread of new diseases [13, 18] , but also the wide socio-economic inequalities within the region, and focus of investment by the international community into pandemic influenza preparedness [19] . Resource gaps for a pandemic response are likely to be wide and vary greatly between and within countries in Asia [20] . But exactly how wide are these gaps, what are the consequences of the gaps in terms of the pandemic disease burden, and to what extent could these consequences be mitigated by improving resource allocation and mobilization?