World leaders urged to be more committed in fighting dengue

MANILA, Philippines - The World Health Organization (WHO) has asked world leaders to take “more committed and coordinated action” against dengue, saying that dengue-causing mosquitoes now know no boundaries.

In a statement, WHO director for Western Pacific Dr. Shin Young-soo noted that countries should “undertake capacity-building for emerging infectious diseases, which include dengue, in a sustainable and efficient way.”

“We should integrate dengue prevention and control activities into proven initiatives such as Integrated Vector Management (IVM) and the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases (APSED), which aims to build capacity through system development,” he added.

The WHO website showed that IVM is an approach that takes into account the available health infrastructure and resources to reduce the transmission of the vector-borne disease. 

ASPED, on the other hand, calls for “collective responsibility and actions to address the shared regional health security threat with a greater emphasis on preparedness-driven investments in health security.”

Last week, WHO’s governing body had reviewed the anti-dengue efforts of its member-countries in the Western Pacific.

WHO records showed that of the 2.5-billion people at risk of dengue worldwide, some 1.8 billion or more than 70 percent come from Asia Pacific. Last year, the region reported 354,000 dengue cases, including 1,075 deaths.

Records showed that the Philippines, Australia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam have already reported a “significant number of cases” this year.

“The Aedes aegypti mosquito, the principal vector for dengue fever, continues to expand to new geographical areas that were previously unaffected, further threatening efforts to contain the spread of dengue,” WHO said.

The agency added that dengue prevention and control is “an intersectoral issue requiring national resources to be mobilized, and requires better regional collaboration and external support.”

To raise awareness about dengue, WHO and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) health ministers launched last June 15 ASEAN Dengue Day.

Foreign and local dengue experts have warned during the Novartis Institute for Tropical Disease Symposium on Dengue Fever in 2009, that the disease was becoming a “global public health challenge,” owing to rapid urbanization, growing population, increasing international travel and climate change.

Decades ago, dengue was confined in tropical countries but cases started to surface in other parts of the world years ago.

The experts have also underscored the lack of effective mosquito control for the rapid spread of dengue across nations.