World Mosquito Program

Last week we had the pleasure of welcoming Dr Phonepadith Xangsayarath, Director General of the Communicable Disease Department at the Lao Ministry of Health, to our lab here at Monash University.

Dr Phonepadith has been a vital partner in our work in Laos, where - together with the Ministry of Health, Save the Children in Laos, and the Government of Australia - we are now in Phase Two of our Wolbachia programme. Since beginning our work there in 2022, we are working toward protecting 750,000 people from dengue.

It's a programme that's gaining real momentum. Earlier this month, the Driving Down Dengue in Laos project marked a major milestone with the official launch of Wolbachia releases in Savannakhet and Champasak Provinces - reaching more than 16,000 households across Kaysone Phomvihane and Pakse Cities.

Thank you to Dr Phonepadith and all our Lao partners for your continued commitment.

Visits like this are a reminder of why strong government partnership sits at the heart of everything we do.

A week on from the Asia Dengue Summit in Singapore, one message has stayed with us: science alone can't stop dengue.

Every country faces dengue differently - and the science only works when the people it's meant to protect help shape it.

That's why our teams bring more than a proven method. Across 16 countries - from Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos and Timor-Leste to community leaders in Comas, Peru - we listen first, work alongside trusted local leaders, and hand the work over, so each country can run its own dengue prevention programme.

From global evidence to local ownership.

Thank you to everyone who shared the week with us.

Dengue costs more than most people see: hospital bills, lost days of work, overwhelmed health systems. New research asked whether preventing it is worth the investment.

Earlier this week, we shared evidence on how effectively Wolbachia-based dengue control reduces dengue. Today's paper addresses the other side of the question.

Beyond the illness itself, there are hospital bills, days lost from work, and the strain placed on health systems each time an outbreak hits. For families in dengue-endemic communities, this burden is ongoing.

Nine independent economic studies across seven countries consistently found the intervention cost-effective in high-burden urban settings. In many, the societal benefits are projected to outweigh programme costs entirely.

Protecting communities from dengue makes both ethical and economic sense.

You can read the paper via the link in the comments. 👇

More than 21,600 households across 22 villages in Savannakhet Province are now part of the effort to drive down dengue in Laos.

Here is how it works. Wolbachia is a natural bacterium found in many insects. When mosquitoes carry it, the viruses that cause dengue find it much harder to grow inside them, which helps reduce the spread of dengue to people. The method is self-sustaining and is already helping to protect communities in countries around the world.

We are so proud of what we are achieving in Laos, and hugely grateful to the Save the Children in Laos team and the Department of Communicable Disease Control, along with the local communities, volunteers, and youth champions who have welcomed this work and made it their own.

This project is supported by the Australian Government through the Partnerships for a Healthy Region initiative.

Across more than 8 million people, in communities across three continents, the story is consistent.

A new systematic review brought together nine studies of Wolbachia-based dengue control, covering populations in Southeast Asia, South America, and Australia. Where Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes have been deployed, dengue incidence has fallen across all studies reviewed.

City-wide deployments showed the largest reductions. The broader the coverage, the greater the benefit to the community.

Systematic reviews rigorously synthesise findings and assess the quality of each study included, making them one of the most reliable ways to evaluate whether an approach works across different settings and contexts.

This review adds to the evidence that Wolbachia-based approaches are an effective tool in the global effort to protect communities from dengue.

Link to the article in the comments below👇