To make dengue a global health priority and time to free the world from dengue fever
Break Dengue, a global partnership of individuals and organisations engaged in the fight against dengue fever, is calling on citizens around the world to voice their concern about the growing social burden that represents dengue. The Dengue Tribe campaign was launched on the sidelines of the annual ASEAN Dengue Day as regional health leaders, experts and ASEAN officials meet to address the growing public health, social and economic burden of dengue. Hosted by Laos this year, the 10 member countries of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) participated in the annual ASEAN Dengue Day.
With 1.3 billion people living in Southeast Asia at risk of getting the disease, the region continues to demonstrate its commitment to combating dengue by raising awareness, promoting cooperation, and reinforcing prevention strategies.
The newly established Dengue Tribe campaign aims to collect the faces and voices of individuals and communities globally and in the ASEAN region who are impacted by the disease, to help make it a public health priority by raising awareness of the disease through community engagement.
Each year, 390 million children, women, and men in over one hundred countries are infected with this vector-borne disease. According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the direct and indirect costs of dengue on the patients and their families can represent double, up to triple their monthly income, and cause an absence of 14 to 19 days from work or school. Up to 2.5 billion people in the world, including most of Africa, Latin America, and Asia Pacific, as well as the US and several countries in Europe, live with the threat of the disease and its potential impact on their families and lives. The cost of dengue in the Americas alone is 2.1 billion US dollars annually. In Southeast Asia, it could be as high as 2.36 billion US dollars.