UK to support Vietnam with £6 million project to predict dengue outbreaks

• More than 95% of Hanoi’s dengue hotbeds under control
• Public security hospitals striving to control dengue epidemic
• Hanoi implements large-scale environmental sanitation to prevent dengue fever
• Public security forces strengthen prevention and control of dengue fever

The project will combine ODA grant funding of £4.1 million from the UK Space Agency with contributions from other partners.  It will see a consortium of UK organisations, led by British civil engineering company HR Wallingford, working with Vietnam to develop a tool that can give advance warning of likely dengue outbreaks, allowing public health authorities to mobilise resources to those most in need. 

UK Space Agency to support Vietnam with £6 million project to predict dengue outbreaks

The project will also provide forecasts of dengue fever under a range of climate change scenarios. The system will link Earth Observation data with climate forecasting and a land-surface model to predict for the first time the impacts of various elements (such as water availability, land-use and climate), on the likelihood of future dengue epidemics. 

The dengue forecasting tool will also include a water assessment module, delivering the additional benefit of improving water management in Vietnam’s transboundary river basins.

The project is led by HR Wallingford, in partnership with the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and the Environment and Climate Change (IMHEN), Pasteur

Institute Ho Chi Minh City, the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Vietnam, World Health Organisation and United Nations Development Programme.

British Ambassador to Vietnam Giles Lever said: “This major new project will further strengthen the growing partnership between the UK and Vietnam in science, research and innovation.  

Through the Newton Fund Vietnam, we are supporting new research partnerships between British and Vietnamese scientists in areas ranging from agriculture to public health, while the British government’s Fleming Fund is supporting the implementation of Vietnam’s National Action Plan for tackling anti-microbial resistance.

“Dengue is becoming an increasingly pressing public health concern for Vietnam following a steep increase in the number of cases in 2017.  So this project is both important and timely, and will bring new and innovative approaches to the vital work of modelling and predicting future outbreaks.”