Premier Mao Chi-kuo and over a hundred experts came together in a seminar on Tuesday to discuss dengue fever. The Environmental Protection Agency held the seminar in light of last year’s severe and prolonged outbreak, which saw some 40,000 cases at its height.
A number of experts said the outbreak was contained by focusing on the most severely infected neighborhoods. They said that since the disease spreads in highly populated areas, it’s necessary to focus on health education and preventive measures within apartment buildings.
Premier Mao said that in the future, Dengue fever prevention will become routine, relying on health, weather, and communications experts. Mao said Taiwan also needs to learn from other countries like Singapore, which have to deal with dengue fever.
“Other countries have encountered the same issues and have [preventive] measures in place that have proven relatively effective. How do we contain the epidemic by deploying preventative measures ahead of time? How do [other countries] deal with infections that occur anyway? We need to learn from their experiences," said Mao.