Doctors’ goal: Zero dengue deaths by year 2030
Physicians reaffirmed on Thursday their commitment to combat the disease and have no dengue-related deaths by 2030, as they also marked the first year of the Philippine Medical Association’s (PMA) formation of the Empowering Networks to Defeat Dengue coalition.
PMA president Hector Santos cited ways to ensure that there will be zero dengue deaths by 2030: 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, including 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 (France, Spain, Italy) and the southern United States.
In the Philippines, experts cited an improvement in dengue data with former Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Enrique Tayag saying 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.
In the same event, Health Undersecretary Gloria Balboa said the DOH logged a total of 14,907 dengue cases as of Feb. 14, a 70 percent decrease compared to the same period in 2025.
But Tayag pointed out that “environmental and vector control will not be enough to address the situation on dengue.”
Unacceptable
“Some may say that the cases and deaths went down, but look at the decrease,” Tayag said in the briefing. “The decrease in cases was 26 percent, while the mortality rate was at 15 percent. We have a problem with dengue because the number of deaths is unacceptable.”
Lulu Bravo, a leading vaccine expert and advocate in the country, said that the illness is still not “adequately addressed,” emphasizing that even experts do not fully understand the disease and its complexities.
