Inequalities in health: the casus of dengue

Authors

  • Veerle Vanlerberghe Research Group ‘Epidemiology and Control of Tropical Diseases’, Public Health Department, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium. Medical doctor, MSc, PhD, postdoctoral researcher.
  • Kristien Verdonck Research Group ‘Epidemiology and Control of Tropical Diseases’, Public Health Department, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium. Medical doctor, PhD, postdoctoral researcher.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17843/rpmesp.2013.304.252

Keywords:

Health inequalities, Neglected diseases, Dengue, Prevention and control

Abstract

Impoverished populations carry a disproportionately high share of the burden of neglected tropical diseases, including dengue. The burden of dengue is high among poor people because they often live in communities where mosquito vectors are abundant, because they use less vector-human barrier methods, and because interventions tend to be less effective in disadvantaged populations. We believe that a better understanding and management of the “causes behind the causes” of dengue would lead to more equitable and more effective control strategies. Two main ideas are worked out. First, we propose targeted interventions in well-defined geographical areas with high risk of dengue transmission. The definition of these high-risk areas should be based on socio-economical, entomological, environmental as well as epidemiological information. Second, there is a need to adapt dengue control tools to local, context-specific factors, in active collaboration with the sectors involved in risk management as well as with the affected communities.

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Published

2014-03-11

Issue

Section

Symposium

How to Cite

1.
Vanlerberghe V, Verdonck K. Inequalities in health: the casus of dengue. Rev Peru Med Exp Salud Publica [Internet]. 2014 Mar. 11 [cited 2024 Dec. 10];30(4). Available from: https://rpmesp.ins.gob.pe/index.php/rpmesp/article/view/252