The Ministry of Health published the Epidemiological Bulletin this week, assuring that the entity maintains active surveillance in preventing tropical diseases such as dengue and other transmitted diseases.

It refers to dengue, leprosy, rabies, chikungunya, elephantiasis, Chagas disease, dracunculiasis, ascariasis, schistosomiasis, scabies, trachoma, among other pathologies. The Health agency emphasizes that the Dominican Government, through the Ministry of Health, has the necessary actions and resources to prevent, control, and eliminate these diseases and the priority ones. In the case of dengue last year, 2024, a significant impact was achieved thanks to prevention, and it reduced more than 65 percent of the expected cases.

This occurred despite the forecasts the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) proposed for the region’s countries.

He indicates that chikungunya has been controlled in the country, reporting about 24 cases in the last four years.

Rage

For rabies prevention, the Ministry of Health last year administered 951,768 doses of rabies vaccine to dogs and cats through the National Vaccination Day that was developed throughout the national territory.

Conferences were held, during which 1,724,739 schoolchildren and 191,638 teachers, administrators, and support personnel were dewormed. He indicates that elephantiasis is a disease with a low incidence and that, thanks to the interventions carried out, it is expected to be eradicated in the country in less than five years.

Leprosy

Regarding leprosy, he explains that in 2022, after the COVID-19 pandemic, 165 cases of the disease were diagnosed, while in the following years, 2023 and 2024, less than one case per 100,000 inhabitants were reported, so he establishes that this is a disease that remains under control.

For the management and detection of this disease, the Ministry with the Dominican Institute of Dermatology and Skin Surgery Dr. Huberto Bogaert Díaz and the Board of Trustees for the Fight Against Leprosy. In this sense, necessary actions are being carried out, such as identifying communities or endemic areas of taeniasis and cysticercosis throughout the country. It is important to note that the prevention of these and other conditions is carried out in primary care. This group of diseases mainly affects vulnerable populations and can also be viral, parasitic, and bacterial.