Amidst COVID-19 in Pakistan, dengue cases are skyrocketing

KARACHI: According to the latest research, Dengue and COVID-19 are both straining Pakistan's healthcare infrastructure, which has resulted in many complications, including the co-diagnosis of two.

Researchers stated that healthcare personnel and civilians are at peril because of a lack of healthcare capacity, a low vaccination rate, growing COVID-19 variants, socioeconomic discrepancies, ignorance, and other factors. The list of issues to be addressed includes the need for improved epidemiological surveillance, especially regarding the dengue and the COVID-19 viruses, and public health interventions that do not put livelihoods at risk. 

To keep this going, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Pakistan's government must work together to implement smart lockdowns, raise public awareness of dengue, and conduct double laboratory tests.

The research enlightened the audience that dengue and COVID-19 outbreaks in Pakistan had significantly strained the country's already precarious healthcare system. In addition, the pandemic had been speculated to have an impact on the incidence of dengue infection because human mobility is a significant factor in the spread of the disease. Dengue vector control drugs, the most effective means of mitigating the disease, had been disrupted by COVID-19 control techniques.

Because of political involvement, the healthcare system in Pakistan's cities has been severely neglected, and the administration is woefully underfunded.

Researchers stressed that most importantly, the Federal government is in charge of all vertical initiatives, and the Local Government has no say in how they can be implemented. 

Disregarding the needs of the less fortunate has resulted in huge gaps between the rich and poor regarding access to primary healthcare.

Dengue and COVID-19 epidemics in Pakistan had aggravated the country's already strained healthcare infrastructure. 

It is becoming increasingly difficult to contain these epidemics, given the widening gap between rich and poor, the mounting financial burden on HCPs, the low vaccination rate, the wide range of clinical similarities, and the general lack of social distance. Meanwhile, the WHO's ongoing efforts, together with preventative measures and epidemiological surveillance, would be of assistance.

The research titled "Dengue Virus Cases Surge Amidst COVID-19 in Pakistan: Challenges, Efforts and Recommendations" has been published in the Journal of the Dove Medical Press