Soft launch of mDengue Application & Website in Segamat

On 20 November 2016, YB Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam, Minister of Health, soft launched the Dengue Application & Website, mDengue, which was developed by SEACO in collaboration with the Segamat District Public Health Office. These digital applications will help to control the dengue vector (Aedes mosquitoes) at the community level. The soft launch was organised as part of the national launch event of “Gotong Royong Mega Bersepadu Perangi Aedes” at Kampung Baru Batu Anam, Segamat. Also present at this event were the Secretary of Ministry of Health, Datuk Seri Chen Chaw Min; Johor State Health Director, Dr. Rooshaimi Merican A Rahim Merican; Segamat District Health Officer, Dr. Mohtar Ahmad; Segamat District Officer, Tuan Haji Mohd Hafiz and other officers from the Ministry of Health (MOH).

More than 1,000 people from other states attended this program. Activities carried out were: community clean up of litter, inspection of residential areas for aedes breeding sites and booth exhibitions. SEACO had also set up its own booth to display the function of the mDengue mobile app and website.

The mDengue mobile application aims to become a tool for the community to take pictures before and after taking actions to eliminate potential and confirmed mosquito breeding sites. By using the mobile application, the District Health Office will be able to monitor these activities. They can also inform the community about the necessary actions which can be taken to control dengue transmission in an effective way.

There is also website that gives the District Health Officers a dynamic map where they can see the locations of captured images of potential & confirmed dengue breeding sites. Other than that, they can identify the location of reported dengue patients and Ovitraps (mosquito trap) on the map with the real time map display.

The SEACO development team had started to develop the mobile application & website on November 2015 and began field trials on April 2016 with the District Health Office and a team of community volunteers.