Battle against dengue now a priority in the Asia Pacific

Dengue recognizes no boundaries. The disease was started to only nine countries in 1970, but now becoming a problem to more than hundred of countries worldwide.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more that 2.5 billion people are at risk to dengue globally, among this 2.5 billion, 70 percents are people residing in the Asia-Pacific region.

This inspires the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to make the battle against dengue a priority to reduce the increasing cases particularly in the Asia Pacific Region.

According to Dr. Shin Young-soo, Regional Director of the World Health Organization in the Western Pacific Region, “Addressing dengue in Asia and the Pacific is a priority of WHO at the highest level.” He noted that dengue prevention and control is an issue that cut across sectors and that national resources need to be mobilized with better regional collaboration.

In 2010, the Ministries of Health from the ASEAN member countries convene and declared every 15^th day of June as an ASEAN Dengue Day which was launched in Jakarta Indonesia in 2011 and succeeded inYangon,Myanmar in 15 June 2012. The ASEAN Dengue Day aimed to raise awareness and mobilize resources for dengue prevention and control.

Likewise, through the collaborative effort of WHO and the ASEAN, the Asia Pacific Dengue Strategic Plan (APDSP) were also created to assist countries enhance dengue preparedness, characterize and contain outbreaks as well as limit epidemics for effective prevention and control of dengue disease in the Asia Pacific Region. The strategic plan will act as a roadmap to help countries ensure to incorporate the key components of an integrated initiative to fight dengue. These include ways to strengthen surveillance systems, improve clinical management, and upgrade systems in response to outbreaks.