MSF at Asia Dengue Summit 2026

As dengue continues to shift from a tropical concern to a global arboviral threat, the Asia-Pacific region remains at the epicenter, home to 70% of the population at risk. With record-breaking annual outbreak surges and no currently approved treatment, the need for integrated, effective responses has never been more urgent.

At the 9th Asia Dengue Summit, Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)  is advocating for a shift away from single-tool approaches, emphasizing that surveillance, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment must be designed and resourced together to address the complexities dengue brings since it has four serotypes and co-circulates with viruses like Zika and chikungunya.

Through field projects in settings like Honduras and Bangladesh, MSF is generating practical evidence that demonstrates how deep community engagement and integrated operational models can achieve dengue reduction even in high-violence or limited resource high-density urban environments. These practical real-world insights offer a contribution for improving dengue response, especially in challenging conditions. 

A critical focus of our work is addressing the "access gap" for the most vulnerable populations in contexts affected by climate change. This includes pregnant women who face elevated risks of severe dengue, adverse birth outcomes, and death, and yet remain routinely excluded from vaccine and therapeutic trials. MSF is calling on regional health actors, researchers, and the biomedical industry include pregnant women, given their increased risk, in R&D chains and in clinical trials to prioritize diagnostics and therapeutics are developed that safe and feasible for use in low-resource and humanitarian settings. 

This hub serves as a central resource for our contributions to the 2026 Asia Dengue Summit, featuring expert insights, advocacy asks, and the latest evidence from the field as we work to ensure that the tools designed today are fit for the people who need them most.

Health impacts of the climate emergency

Our medical teams are providing care for people experiencing the health impacts of the climate emergency first-hand.

In multiple countries where we work, a significant proportion of the health problems we respond to are climate-sensitive.

• When there is very little water, it is impossible to grow crops and therefore produce food.
• When the climate warms and the rainfall cycle changes, insects such as mosquitoes – which transmit diseases such as malaria and dengue fever – breed more quickly and survive in places where they were not previously found, exposing more people to these deadly diseases.