The World Health Organization announced Thursday a global plan to battle dengue and other diseases carried by mosquitos as they spread faster and further amid climate change.
“The rapid spread of dengue and other arboviral diseases in recent years is an alarming trend that demands a coordinated response across sectors and across borders,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
The UN health agency said the number of reported dengue cases has approximately doubled each year since 2021, with over 12.3 million cases, including more than 7,900 deaths, reported in just the first eight months of 2024.
That is already almost double the 6.5 million cases reported throughout the whole of 2023.
Dengue can cause high fever and body aches, but most people have no symptoms, and the WHO estimates that there are between 100 million and 400 million infections each year.
The disease is caused by an arbovirus carried by Aedes aegypti mosquitos, whose territory has spread as the planet warms.
