Urban Dengue Control Innovation Challenge

This challenge aims to identify, pilot, and validate bio-enabled and digitally-powered solutions for sustainable urban dengue control in Sri Lanka generating field evidence strong enough to support city- and nationwide scale-up.

Dengue fever is endemic in Sri Lanka, with reported incidence stubbornly sitting between 300–400 cases per 100,000 population since 2009 — three to four times the national target. Despite decades of investment in larviciding, spraying, and community clean-up campaigns, conventional vector management has failed to drive a sustained reduction in dense urban environments now compounded by insecticide resistance and shifting climate patterns.

The gap between public health effort and outcome is widening. Integrated vector management programs, already stretched by limited human resources, are running up against the biological, operational, and environmental realities of high-density urban settings. Hospital systems face mounting cost and burden from dengue caseloads, while urban populations bear the health and productivity toll. A new generation of bio-enabled, data-driven, and scalable solutions are needed to close this gap. Read more about the challenge, technology compatibility, constraints etc. here.

How might we deploy bio-enabled and technology-powered solutions for urban dengue control that are cost-effective in Sri Lanka's urban context and scalable to city- and nationwide rollout?

Sri Lanka's dengue challenge is Asia's dengue challenge. Join the Urban Dengue Innovation Challenge and bring your solution to one of the region's most persistent urban health problems. Proven impact here becomes a replicable model for cities across Asia and the Pacific.