A dengue fever forecasting Model Satellite-based system (D-MOSS) was launched in Hanoi in March 2019. The early warning system created by D-MOSS is being piloted in Hanoi, Dak Lak, Khanh Hoa and Dong Nai. The project aims to develop tools which allows the government and public health authorities to: issue alerts for dengue, so that relevant agencies and communities can take appropriate actions to mitigate the impacts and damages caused by dengue outbreaks; and provide assessment of vector-borne disease risks under future climate and land-use change scenarios. Vietnam witnessed a surge in dengue cases in 2017 experiencing over 170,000 cases of infection across the country.
The system will take into account water supplies and precipitation that directly affect mosquito breeding sites along with other variables such as the number of dengue cases, land use and temperature.
The project is funded by the UK Space Agency’s International Partnership Programme, and developed with joint efforts of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and a consortium led by HR Wallingford, a civil engineering and Environmental hydraulics organization created by the UK Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. The consortium comprises HR Wallingford, UNDP, WHO, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the Met Office and Oxford Policy Management in the UK, Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change of the Viet Nam Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Pasteur Institute Ho Chi Minh City and the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology of the Ministry of Health. The International Partnership Programme is a five-year, GBP 152 million (USD 200 million) programme designed to partner UK space expertise with overseas governments and organizations to deliver sustainable, economic or societal benefits.
(Sources: Vietnam News; United Nations Development Programme)
