On September 11, 2015, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) convened the “Dengue Expert Advisory Meeting” hosted by the Minister of Health and Welfare Chiang Been-huang to consult with domestic and international public health, healthcare and environmental experts on various dengue prevention and control issues, including dengue vaccine research and development, clinical management, dengue NS1 antigen test, vector control in order to further improve existing dengue prevention and control efforts.

During the meeting, the experts pointed out that providing clinical physicians with dengue NS1 antigen test and information needed to diagnose dengue infection would help lower the mortality rate and facilitate prompt implementation of dengue control and prevention measures. The experts also suggested the government to consider whether to introduce dengue vaccine. In terms of vector control, the experts recommended referring to international experience and utilizing different methods of vector control such as habitat and environmental control, chemical control and biological control while taking insecticide resistance into consideration in order to respond to the ongoing outbreaks appropriately. In addition, the experts also mentioned that more needed to be done to further improve the quality of current clinical diagnosis and the need for more innovative tools and strategies for dengue prevention and control for medium- and long-term plans. Further, the experts suggested introducing dengue vaccine while evaluating the efficiency of the vaccine. On the other hand, the experts pointed out that while it was important to provide relevant training to healthcare and public health personnel, it was also critical to exchange experience and good practices. Hence, besides environmental control of dengue fever and clinical management of dengue patients, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) was asked to collect related international experience and continue to develop personnel training programs in order to adequately address challenges posed by future outbreaks.

Dengue fever is a continuing global issue. Global warming and continuous heavy downpours have facilitated the significant growth and spread of vector mosquitoes, which have both contributed to the severity of this year’s outbreaks. To effectively bring the current outbreaks under control, a multi-faceted approach is needed. The purpose of this Meeting was to gather collective wisdom from experts in different fields in order to develop more effective medium- and long-term plans for dengue prevention and control.

As this year’s outbreaks are more severe than that in the past years, Taiwan CDC urges community engagement in thoroughly eliminating vector breeding sources through frequently emptying and cleaning container habitats and taking measures to prevent mosquito bites. For more information, please visit the Taiwan CDC’s website at http://www.cdc.gov.tw or call the toll-free Communicable Disease Reporting and Care Hotline, 1922 (or 0800-001922).