Bacterial and Viral Infection

Preventing the spread of dengue in Côte d’Ivoire

Led by Dr Anani Badje at Programme PAC-CI in Côte d’Ivoire and Dr Ellen Dyer at the University of Oxford in the UK

Dengue fever, now often known simply as dengue, is a viral disease which is transmitted from human to human by infected mosquitoes. It is found in tropical and sub-tropical climates across the globe, with half the world’s population at risk. Although a lot of the time it only produces a mild illness, and can have no symptoms at all, sometimes it can be much more severe and even lead to death.

Together, Dr Anani Badje at Programme PAC-CI, Dr Ellen Dyer at the University of Oxford, Côte d’Ivoire’s National Institute of Public Hygiene and Sodexam, the weather forecast service in the region, have established DengueCARE to understand and protect against the re-emergence and increased transmission of dengue.

DengueCARE is a locally driven project which aims to use Foundation funding to turn research into action, focusing on three specific areas. The first is to get a better understanding of the historical and current relationships between climate and disease transmission, in order to better predict the impact of further climate change. The second is to test an openly available model of dengue to see if it might be a useful tool for local health services. The third is to work with local people to produce informative resources; the aim of these will be to engage local institutions and communities, and enhance their disease prevention strategies.