Comprehensive Guideline for Prevention and Control of Dengue and Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever. Revised and expanded edition

Abstract

Dengue fever (‎DF)‎ is the fastest emerging arboviral infection spread by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes with major public health consequences for millions of people around the world, and in particular the South-East Asia and Asia-Pacific Regions of the World Health Organization (‎WHO)‎. Of the 2.5 billion people globally at risk of DF and its severe forms dengue haemorrhagic fever (‎DHF)‎ and dengue shock syndrome (‎DSS)‎ South-East Asia accounts for approximately 1.3 billion or 52%. As the disease spreads to new geographical areas, the frequency of the outbreaks has increased along with a rapidly changing disease epidemiology. In response to resolution of the Forty-sixth World Health Assembly urging Member States to strengthen national programmes for control of DF/DHF, several documents were developed by regional offices of WHO, including South-East Asia. In 1999 the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia published the Regional Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of DF/DHF. Since then new strategies and developments in the control of dengue fever, DHF and DSS have come to light. The Regional Guidelines were extensively revised, updated and expanded with the focus on new and additional topics of current relevance to the populations of Member States of the Region. They were then rechristened the Comprehensive Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Dengue and Dengue Haemmorhagic Fever. This revised and expanded edition of the Comprehensive Guidelines is intended to provide guidance to national and local-level programme managers and public health officials of Member States, as well as other stakeholders, including health practitioners, laboratory personnel and multisectoral partners, on strategic planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and strengthening the response to dengue prevention and control in their countries. Scientists and researchers involved in vaccine and antiviral drug development will also find crucial baseline information in this document.