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Infectious Diseases Q1 2024

Dengue dashboard: how researchers and policymakers can track global trends

Close-up of a doctor injecting the vaccine to a child in africa.
Close-up of a doctor injecting the vaccine to a child in africa.
iStock / Getty Images Plus / Media Lens King

Prof. Zulkifli Ismail

Chairman, Asia Dengue Voice and Action Group
Chairman, Dengue Prevention Advocacy Malaysia
Clinical Professor, KPJ Healthcare University College, Malaysia

    Explore impactful results in dengue epidemiology and access comprehensive data insights. Overcome challenges with this powerful tool for researchers and policymakers.

    Initially only covering nine Western Pacific countries using World Health Organization dengue situation reports, the Dengue Dashboard by Asian Dengue Voice and Action (ADVA) now spans 62 countries, integrating data from the Pan American Health Organization.

    Showcasing dengue surveillance

    In 2023, a poster was presented at the inaugural APIC-ADVA Asia Pacific Summit on Infectious Diseases and Immunization, held in Singapore from 31st October to 1st November 2023.1 The poster showcased Dengue Dashboard’s capability to analyse dengue epidemiology. It identified surges in dengue trends for a quarter of the countries covered in 2023; discovered significant temporal and spatial clustering in the south of the Americas; and located surveillance gaps in several countries. Plans are underway to upgrade the Dengue Dashboard with the following objectives:

    1. Maximised visual impact

    Implementing a greater variety of visualisation techniques, such as gauges and heatmaps, can transform the Dashboard’s complex data into more easily digestible insights to enhance data comprehension and facilitate benchmarking.

    1. Customised user experiences

    From policymakers seeking overarching trends to frontline workers requiring detailed information, the upgraded Dengue Dashboard aims to satisfy diverse user needs through customisable features like drill-down capabilities and locality-based outbreak alerts, ensuring relevant insights for every stakeholder.

    While the potential of disease surveillance dashboards is vast, challenges like data standardisation and ensuring actionable insights persist.

    1. More comprehensive data

    Dashboard data currently includes multi-year, weekly and total dengue cases and deaths, reported by epidemiological week. It will be able to capture more disease parameters, such as serotype prevalence, case fatality rates, time from infection to death and more.

    1. Applications beyond data presentation

    ADVA intends to apply artificial intelligence techniques to the Dashboard’s treasure trove of data, to generate more in-depth analysis and create better actionable insights.

    Dengue surveillance challenges and opportunities

    While the potential of disease surveillance dashboards is vast, challenges like data standardisation and ensuring actionable insights persist. Addressing these challenges presents opportunities for refining the Dengue Dashboard’s functionalities and maximising its utility for dengue researchers, public health administrators and health policymakers

    Learn more at adva.asia

    [1] Kwong FYP, Gubler DJ, Pangestu T et al. (2023, 31stOct-1st Nov 2023) Analysis of Dengue Incidence in the Western Pacific Region and The Americas, 1st APIC-ADVA Asia Pacific Summit on Infectious Diseases and Immunization, Singapore www.apicsummit.org

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