Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia set up dengue network

ST Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia have set up a network to speed up the sharing of dengue information and training of dengue surveillance and control.

The new network, UNITEDengue, was announced on Tuesday at the third Asia-Pacific Dengue Workshop held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here, attended by public health representatives from 24 countries in the region.

Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA), Malaysia's health ministry and Andalas University in West Sumatra are members of the new network, which aims to expand to other countries in the region.

Mr Andrew Tan, chief executive of the NEA, which manages the mosquito-borne illness here, said in an address: "With similar climates and ecologies, our communities share the sane vulnerability to dengue and other vector-borne diseases. We therefore need similar linkages among countries to deal with the challenge."