ASEAN launches first-ever 'dengue day'
Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) is generally found in tropical and sub-tropical areas. WHO estimated that nearly 50 million dengue infections occur annually in the world. The number of DHF cases and death gave impact on socio-economic lost in countries. The economic lost due to direct medical costs, direct nonmedical costs, and indirect costs such as days of productivity lost due to disease, both for the patient and to any other household member who had to care for the patient.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been coordinating with member countries in its various efforts to control the form of DHF. DHF control strategy plan which contains the vector control, case management, surveillance, community empowerment, etc., but the results still felt not optimal. This is shown from the number of cases, regional spread and number of deaths due to DHF continues to increase. Some of ASEAN countries that have the same DHF problems already developed DHF control program which follows WHO guideline.
ASEAN Health Minister emphasized the need to address the DHF in the region comprehensively including involving various stakeholders.
At the 10th ASEAN Health Ministers Meeting on the 22 July 2010 in Singapore, the Ministers of the 10 ASEAN member states agreed on the proposed ASEAN Dengue Day as a way to increase public awareness on dengue prevention and control.
As the follow up, the 5th Meeting of the ASEAN Expert Group on Communicable Diseases (AEGCD), 29-30 November 2010 in Kuala Lumpur agreed that each Member State will conduct national activities before 15 June 2011 and on 15 June 2011 as National Dengue Day. The type of activities are being conducted at regional, national and sub- national levels upon the discretion of the concerned Member States. The Meeting agreed that the regional activities should add value to the National Dengue Day.
For this year, Indonesia has led the preliminary activities for this official launching. These activities such as the ASEAN Dengue Conference, Regional Dengue Logo Competition, and other national initiatives help increase public and government awareness about the disease as well as promote commitment from all health and non- health stakeholders.
A Jakarta Call for Action on the Control and Prevention of Dengue is one of the major outputs of the Jakarta conference, which specifies the commitment from all stakeholders and calls for enhanced collaboration and cooperation from all sectors.
"As we strengthen our community-building efforts, ASEAN member states are committed to working together for the health security of the peoples of ASEAN, and dengue is one of our priority diseases for action", said the Secretary-General of ASEAN Surin Pitsuwan.
"Tackling dengue is everyone's concern, delegates to the conference agreed. The disease cannot be fought by the health sector alone. All sectors need to collaborate", said Dr Samlee Plianbangchang, WHO Regional Director for Southeast Asia.
"Dengue respects no boundaries and our region needs to move from response-driven activities to long-term prevention and preparedness-driven approaches", said Dr Shin Young-soo, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific. "A proactive approach will make better use of our resources and minimize negative health, social and economic impacts of dengue." Asia-Pacific bears 75 percent of the current global disease burden from dengue.
ASEAN has the highest number of dengue infections in the Asia- Pacific and this has a significant impact on the socio-economic status of the member states.
Viet Nam marks ASEAN Dengue Day
Viet Nam has displayed its response to ASEAN's efforts to fight dengue fever via a meeting in the Mekong delta city of Can Tho on June 15, which saw the participation of 500 delegates from the World Health Organization (WHO), embassies, and representatives from ASEAN countries.
Addressing the meeting, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Ba Thuy emphasised that dengue fever is an issue for the entire community and a heavy economic burden on society. However, he said, the disease can be prevented by raising public awareness of the issue and coordinating efforts of the whole community.
Dengue fever, a mosquito-transmitted disease, often occurred during the beginning of the rainy season and existed in Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam all year.
The disease is prevalent in almost 20 southern cities and provinces and in central and Central Highland regions of Vietnam.
Last year around 125,000 dengue fever cases were reported and 104 people died of the disease.
On the occasion, a WHO representative called on people in Southeast Asia to be more aware of dengue fever prevention and fight.
The WHO official also urged the people to turn their actions from preparedness into readiness, strengthen joint cooperation and combine activities to effectively deal with the disease.
Many activities have been held over the past week in response to the first ASEAN Day of Dengue Fever which was initiated at the ASEAN Health Ministers Meeting in 2010.