As Filipino physicians marked the first year of the Philippine Medical Association’s (PMA) formation of the Empowering Networks to Defeat Dengue coalition, they affirmed their commitment to combat the disease and have no dengue-related deaths by 2030.
PMA president Hector Santos cited ways to ensure that they achieve their goal, such as vector control, early diagnosis, proper information dissemination, and the approval of a new generation dengue vaccine.
“In the PMA, we are reaching out to all our doctors,” Santos said in an interview, “When we go around, we inform them of our advocacy so they are advocating, reminding, their patients of early diagnosis and early treatment.”
Physicians have long maintained that residential hygiene and sanitation remains an important factor in dengue control, but pediatrician Florentina Uy stressed the importance of other factors such as medical information and government actions.
There were over a record 14.6 million dengue cases and more than 12,000 deaths globally, according to the World Health Organization, and the disease has also been spreading in parts of Europe, and the southern United States.
In the Philippines, experts cited an improvement in dengue data with former Department of Health Undersecretary Enrique Tayag saying that there were 24 percent less dengue cases in 2025 than in 2024. He also shared that the mortality rate in 2025 decreased by 15 percent compared to 2024.
Tayag however pointed out that “environmental and vector control will not be enough to address the situation on dengue.”
“Some may say that the cases and deaths went down, but look at the decrease,” he said at a briefing. “The decrease in cases was 26 percent, while the mortality rate was still at 15 percent. We have a problem with dengue because the number of deaths is unacceptable.”
Addressing a threat like Dengue will need the full cooperation of the government and the private sector, especially in the medical field, as solutions go beyond just diagnosis, medicine, and treatment. Having a goal to eliminate dengue-related deaths by 2030 is important and laudable, but actually achieving it is a totally different story.
Hopefully the Philippines can find a good ending to that story.*
