Experts sound alarm over rising mosquito-borne disease prevalence

Dar es Salaam. Experts sounded the alarm yesterday over the increasing prevalence of mosquito-borne diseases in urban areas across Africa.

Speaking at the International Conference on Advances in Surveillance and Control Methods for Aedes-borne Diseases and Urban Vectors, attendees highlighted the urgent need for effective responses to combat this growing threat.

Diseases like dengue, zika, chikungunya and yellow fever are among those transmitted by mosquitoes in urban areas.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Africa ranks among the top four regions most affected by dengue, with 171,991 cases and 753 deaths reported in 2023 alone.

From 2000 to 2019, WHO reported a 10-fold increase in dengue reported cases worldwide, reaching 5.2 million.

Speaking at the event, the Unit Head of the Veterinary Public Health, Vector Control, and Environment Unit in the Global Neglected Tropical Diseases Programme of the WHO, Dr Raman Velayudhan, said it was important to work on the best ways to combat the diseases to avoid the health dangers and the costs that come with the second wave of the transmitted diseases.

“This is a very big meeting for African scientists to focus more on the effort to fight dengue disease as an urban disease, which will increase with climate change aspects.

We need to work more and make sure we reduce the mortality of the people in the urban centres for dengue, unlike malaria,” said Dr Raman.

He said, usually dengue fever has three phases in a human’s life. The second phase is very critical compared to the first and the third, as it will affect a large population with more health complications; something should not be waited for to happen.

With the number of malaria cases going down, dengue fever cases are going higher, and over 17 percent of African countries are already affected by it.

Efforts to reduce it to zero cases are needed by involving the community to protect themselves and make sure schoolchildren are applying mosquito repellant before going to school.

Dr Raman’s presentation on the global dengue situation and the global arbovirus initiative shows that, from January to July this year, there were 109 countries, areas, and territories with verified dengue transmission.

This evaluation is ongoing, and transmission is likely to be occurring in other countries that have not yet been captured by formal surveillance mechanisms.

A total of 148,871 cases and 105 deaths reported from 20 countries to WHO by July 2024.

The largest number of cases have been recorded in Malaysia, accounting for 83,131 cases.

The Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) chief executive director, Dr Honorati Masanja, said they are not doing surveillance on the kind of mosquitoes available in urban areas, something that denies us understanding how big the problem is, and the meeting is there to address that challenge not only in Tanzania but also in some other parts of the world.

The conference's goal goes beyond advancing scientific understanding, as they aim to translate their findings into actionable solutions that protect and improve the health and well-being of communities, particularly those most at risk.

“With a diverse and dedicated group of professionals, including scientists, public health experts, industry leaders, and policymakers.

Over the next three days, we will share knowledge, explore cutting-edge tools and technologies, and forge new collaborations to enhance our efforts against Aedes-borne diseases,” said Dr Honorati.

He said, that with the support of the European Union, they have given Sh4.1 billion to 25 institutes to support the research, build capacity for experts, and come up with innovative ways to fight the mosquitoes.

 The four-year project will end in 2026. The director of research at the French Public Research Institution (IRD) and visiting Professor at IOC-Fiocruz, Mr Vincent Corbel, said the meeting will also promote new and innovative tools for improving surveillance to control mosquitoes and strengthen collaborations between countries to share knowledge and increase the scope of capacity building.

The conference is organised by Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) and Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) with the support of the European INOVEC project and will have eight keynote speakers from different regions who will share their knowledge and expertise in the field.