Publication: Barriers and bridges to prevention and control of dengue: The need for a social-ecological approach
Issued Date
2005-12-01
Resource Type
ISSN
16129210
16129202
16129202
Other identifier(s)
2-s2.0-28244446637
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Mahidol University
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
EcoHealth. Vol.2, No.4 (2005), 273-290
Suggested Citation
Jerry Spiegel, Shannon Bennett, Libby Hattersley, Mary H. Hayden, Pattamaporn Kittayapong, Sustriayu Nalim, Daniel Nan Chee Wang, Emily Zielinski-Gutiérrez, Duane Gubler Barriers and bridges to prevention and control of dengue: The need for a social-ecological approach. EcoHealth. Vol.2, No.4 (2005), 273-290. doi:10.1007/s10393-005-8388-x Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/16513
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Title
Barriers and bridges to prevention and control of dengue: The need for a social-ecological approach
Other Contributor(s)
The University of British Columbia
University of Hawaii at Manoa
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
Mahidol University
Badan Penelitian Dan Pengembangan Kesehatan, Kementerian Kesehatan Republik Indonesia
National Environment Agency, Singapore
National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases
University of Hawaii at Manoa
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
Mahidol University
Badan Penelitian Dan Pengembangan Kesehatan, Kementerian Kesehatan Republik Indonesia
National Environment Agency, Singapore
National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases
Abstract
This article critically examines how programs for the prevention and control of dengue fever have been conducted in the absence of an integrated approach, and considers the social and ecological factors influencing their effectiveness. Despite recognition of dengue fever as the most important arboviral disease affecting humans, and in spite of a greater emphasis on community-based control approaches, the burden placed on the communities, countries, and regions affected by this disease continues to rise. In considering historical experience in the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the global forces that are exerting new pressures, the important elements of successful control programs are identified as community ownership, partnership with government, leadership, scalability, and control of immature mosquitoes. The key barriers to the exchange of knowledge and the transdisciplinary cooperation necessary for sustainable dengue control are rooted in differences in values among policy-makers, citizens, and scientists and are repeatedly expressed in technical, economic, cultural, geographic, and political dimensions. Through consideration of case studies in Cuba, Guatemala, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam, the limitations of control approaches that fail to take into account the complexities of ecological and social systems are presented. Bridges to effective control are identified as the basis for adaptability, both of control programs to the mosquito vector's changing behavior and of education programs to public, regional and local particularities, as well as transdisciplinarity, community empowerment, the ability to scale local experiences up to the macro-level, and the capacity to learn from experience to achieve sustainability. © 2005 EcoHealth Journal Consortium.