Fight Against Deadly Dengue Fever in Honduras Picks up Speed With Tech

A medical charity is using high-tech mapping tools and a mobile phone app to help Honduras tackle its worst mosquito-borne disease outbreak: dengue fever.

2019 saw the highest dengue fever outbreak in the Americas, according to the Pan-American Health Organization, with Honduras alone having around 92,000 suspected cases of the disease by November 2019, along with 250 recorded deaths. Now, Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) – French for “doctors without borders” – is using geographic information system (GIS) mapping tools and a mobile phone app to fight back, identifying areas affected by dengue in the Central American nation and direct prevention and awareness campaigns.

“It allows you to see the evolution of the epidemic in each neighborhood and city and all over the country per day, per week,” says Pascal Olivo, MSF logistics coordinator for Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. “We have adapted our strategy accordingly because we can see the evolution of the epidemic on the maps.”

The mobile app is being used by the MSF health workers to record data, asking residents key questions about the dengue virus and if prevention strategies were being implemented – such as cleaning their water tanks and buckets that act as major mosquito breeding grounds.