REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SINGAPORE - Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia announced on Tuesday that they had set up a network to push forward information sharing and training in combating dengue. The members of the network included Singapore`s National Environment Agency, Malaysia`s Health Ministry and Indonesia`s Andalas University, the online edition of the Straits Times reported.
The network may further expand to include other countries in the region. The network UNITEDengue, was announced at the third Asia-Pacific Dengue Workshop held at Singapore`s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where public health representatives from 24 countries and regions gathered. Andrew Tan, chief executive of the National Environment Agency, said the three countries with similar climates and ecologies shared the same vulnerability to dengue and other vector-borne diseases.
Singapore is a tropical city state, and Malaysia and Indonesia also have hot and humid weather. The World Health Organization estimated that up to 70 percent of the 3.6 billion people at risk to dengue are in the Asia-Pacific region.
