MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

WHO to train 6,000 healthcare pros to help Peru fight dengue

Things can get worse “with the arrival of El Niño,” Tedros explained

The World Health Organization (WHO) is to train more than 6,000 healthcare professionals to assist Peru in the dengue epidemic, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced Wednesday. Peru is experiencing one of its worst dengue crises, with 81,202 confirmed cases and at least 193 deaths.

Tedros also stressed that less than 1% of these cases could lead to death, but warned of the heavy impact the cases are having on the Peruvian healthcare system.

The director-general regretted the increase in the number of cases of dengue and other arbovirus diseases in the world, particularly in the Americas, where last year there were 2.8 million cases and 1,280 deaths.

“WHO is preparing for a possible increase in the number of cases of diseases caused by arboviruses in 2023 and 2024, with the arrival of the El Niño phenomenon,” said Tedros, who also highlighted the impact of climate change on the global increase of mosquitoes that cause dengue, zika, and chikungunya.

Tedros insisted many of the strategies used to combat Covid-19 can now be reused in the fight against dengue and other similar diseases.

Meanwhile, neighboring Chile is taking unilateral sanitary measures against Peru's crisis. After declaring a health alert last month in 7 regions (Arica and Parinacota, Tarapacá, Antofagasta, Atacama, Coquimbo, Valparaíso, and Metropolitan) due to the presence of two different species of mosquitoes that cause dengue, Chile's Health Minister Ximena Aguilera warned of a possible outbreak in her country. She said that work was being done to eradicate the mosquitoes that cause the disease.