Situation on Dengue Fever and Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever in The Western Pacific Region

Dengue fever and dengue haemorrhagic fever (DF/DHF) is now recognized as one of the major public health problem in most of the countries in the Western Pacific Region (WPR) such as China, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Lao PDR and the South Pacific Countries. DF existed before World War II in the South-East Asia, however, the number of patients have increased steadily and in 1960s dengue virus infection have spread rapidly in Asia, the Pacific Islands, Africa and Central and South-America. In the WPR, 28/35 countries and areas experienced DF/DHF outbreak in the past two decades. Case fatality rate become to low (0-3%) in every country now except Cambodia (3.6-12.4%), however, the number of cases have been increasing again and deaths are still reported every year. The forty-sixth World Health Assembly, WHO, in May 1993 called for global action to control DF/DHF. The Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) of WHO have supported DF/DHF prevention and control programme in the country, however, shortage of trained personal, facility and equipment for clinical and virological diagnosis is a major obstacle in most of the DF/DHF endemic countries