By Edward L. Kadunc, President, Pan American Health and Education Foundation (PAHEF)

Dengue fever is not a household name in the developed world, yet 40 percent of the world’s population is at risk of contracting it—including the developed world. Dengue, a mosquito-borne tropical disease, is spreading rapidly throughout urban and semi-urban regions. It is not a tropical disease affecting just those in far off countries, but also a growing public health threat here in the Americas. In the past year, for example, there was an outbreak in Florida.

The public and private sectors are beginning to see that dengue can no longer be ignored. The Pan American Health and Education Foundation (PAHEF) is a leader in health education throughout the Americas that mobilizes resources to jointly address key health, education, and training priorities.  As president of the PAHEF, I know that fighting dengue will take the action of multiple partners making strong commitments to eradicate this disease.

Dengue: A Worldwide Problem

Dengue can be found in more than 100 countries. The World Health Organization estimates that up to 50 million people are infected every year.

Several days after being infected by a dengue-carrying mosquito, symptoms that may include severe headache, painful body ache, rash, and a fever begin. As symptoms closely mirror those of the flu, the patient may be inaccurately diagnosed.

On its own, dengue is not often life-threatening, but it can lead to dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) which may be fatal. Nearly 500,000 people worldwide are hospitalized with DHF every year, which causes untold days missed from school or work.

Back from the Brink of Eradication in the Americas

Dengue has plagued the Americas for centuries. In 1635, the first outbreaks in the region were recorded in the Caribbean. From 1824 to 1828, a dengue pandemic claimed countless lives in Bermuda, Colombia, Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico, Venezuela, the Virgin Islands, and the Southern United States. New Orleans, with its humid climate and swamps where mosquitoes breed, suffered through a three-year pandemic in the 1870s that saw an estimated 40,000 people become infected.

Massive eradication efforts of mosquitoes and their breeding places in the Americas during the 1950s and 1960s lead to a formidable shrinking of endemic areas. Once dengue was widely eradicated, it fell off many governments’ political and financial agendas. This situation paired with a rapid, unplanned urban explosion in tropical areas to create the perfect storm for dengue to quickly reclaim territory across the Western Hemisphere. As a result, the number of dengue cases throughout the Americas grew from 66,011 in 1980 to over 900,000 in 2008.

Battling Dengue Today

Today, dengue is prevalent in dozens of countries in the Americas. Many of the mosquito carriers are resistant to insecticides and there is often a lack of funding to launch effective campaigns. While vaccine development is underway, nothing currently exists to immunize those at risk. Community education and training medical personnel to recognize the symptoms early will be key to reversing the trend. At PAHEF, we know this well. Our foundation has a history of supporting projects that use education and training to address neglected tropical diseases. PAHEF has supported successful initiatives to combat malaria, lymphatic filariasis, and river blindness. Fighting dengue will take nothing less than an integrated solution built on educating medical professionals as well as the public.

PAHEF works every day to improve the health of people in the Americas. Our neighbors need our assistance to help them live lives free from the worry of a mosquito bite leading to severe illness or death. Malaria rates in the Americas have been successfully reduced through health education and community partnerships to destroy breeding grounds. We are confident the same can be done for dengue.

Edward L. Kadunc is the president of the Pan American Health and Education Foundation, a nonprofit based in Washington, DC, that improves health in the Americas through promotion, education, and training. For over 30 years, Mr. Kadunc has advised governments and the private sector on prevention and education issues regarding tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS and planning and management of public health and primary health care programs. Mr. Kadunc received the Presidential Meritorious Honor Award and the Outstanding Career Achievement Award from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).