Hong Kong-led NGO sees ‘significant success’ against dengue fever surge

Hong Kong and mainland China teams help reduce spread of mosquito-borne disease in less-developed countries as cases hit record levels worldwide

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Emily Chan (left) checks mosquito netting with a medical worker in East Timor. Photo: Handout

Enoch Wong

Published: 7:13pm, 20 Nov 2024Updated: 9:54pm, 20 Nov 2024

Corrected [9:53pm, 20 Nov, 2024]

[9:53pm, 20 Nov, 2024]
This article was amended to correct the number of medical teams and doctors sent abroad for cataract operations

A team of medical workers from Hong Kong and mainland China who are battling the spread of dengue fever – a potentially deadly disease spread by mosquitoes – is seeing success in some of the world’s less-developed countries, according to organisers.

Emily Chan, an expert with the World Health Organization and director of CUHK Centre for Global Health, said the Hong Kong-based NGO GX Foundation, which specialises in foreign medical humanitarian help, launched its latest aid campaign in January.

Chan said the “Health Protection Against Dengue Fever” project had seen “significant success” in East Timor, where confirmed dengue cases have dropped by 10 per cent this year despite a severe global outbreak. In the capital Dili, rates of dengue fever have dropped by 40 per cent compared to last year.

Chan, who is head of the foundation, said it has partnered with mainland manufacturers and labs to test and install 16,000 mosquito lamps, 340,000 rapid dengue test kits, 100,000 bed nets and 380,000 rolls of sticky fly traps.

Thousands of mosquito lamps developed in China have been installed to fight dengue fever. Photo: Handout

The supplies have been distributed along the China-Laos Railway and the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway in Cambodia, in addition to areas of East Timor in Southeast Asia and Honduras in Central America, which were added to the foundation’s project list last year.