- Dengue fever is rapidly increasing around the world: the World Health Organization declared it a national emergency in December after a tenfold increase in cases over the past generation.
- The United Arab Emirates has issued multiple warnings about dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease that has become widespread in the UAE after record rainfall there.
- The UAE did not respond to questions about the number of cases, but activists say workers are the ones hardest hit by the virus.
The desert nation has been issuing numerous dengue fever warnings since record rains hit the UAE three months ago, with activists saying the disease is surging among working-class people and hitting them hardest.
The tropical disease, spread by mosquitoes, is rapidly spreading around the world, with the World Health Organization declaring it a health emergency in December after a tenfold increase in cases globally over the past generation.
While many people infected with the virus are asymptomatic, some experience headaches, fever and flu-like symptoms, and in severe cases can lead to severe bleeding, shock and death.
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In the UAE, a federation of seven emirates, the disease is typically spread by inbound travel on long-haul airlines, but the Ministry of Health warned on April 25 that locally transmitted cases with no travel history have been recorded since 2023 “as a result of climate change and favorable conditions for mosquito breeding.”
Changing weather patterns are turning countries that were previously inhospitable to dengue-carrying mosquitoes into potential habitats.
Heavy rains in April increased the risk in the Gulf state, flooding major highways and parts of Dubai’s international airport. Vacuum pumps were quickly installed on major highways, but other roads remained flooded for weeks, allowing virus-carrying mosquitoes to lay eggs and spread the disease.
An abandoned vehicle stands in floodwaters that cover a main road after a severe thunderstorm in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, April 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Christopher Pike, File)
In the UAE, where broad laws severely restrict freedom of speech and most major local media outlets are state-run or state-controlled, official figures are not released. Various government agencies did not respond to requests for exact numbers on dengue cases.
The WHO also declined to comment on the situation in the UAE when contacted by The Associated Press, but the U.N. health agency noted in a May 30 report that dengue outbreaks continue in “countries with strengthened health systems affected by erratic rainfall due to climate change” in the Middle East. It also said that “timely data sharing remains a challenge for other countries in the region, including due to potential impacts on tourism, economies and other sectors.”
Meanwhile, awareness campaigns across the Sheikh country on the importance of purifying stagnant water and warnings about dengue fever, also known as bone-breaking fever, are being widely aired on state media.
Still, activists stressed that worker communities are the ones most affected by the disease.
A report published by Fair Square, a London-based group that focuses on labor rights in Gulf Arab states, said delays in cleaning up flooded areas in industrial zones have exacerbated the spread of disease among workers, some of whom are leaving their home countries, already affected by climate change, for money-making opportunities in the UAE.
The July 4 report, citing three health workers, one government official, and migrant workers, detailed a surge in dengue cases among migrant worker communities across the UAE. The group blamed the increase on a slow government response to the spread of the virus in areas where migrant workers live and work.
“The key takeaway here is the disproportionate impact of the virus appearing to be spreading primarily among workers,” FairSquare co-director James Lynch, who was previously banned from the UAE while with Amnesty International, told The Associated Press. “What you want is an equitable approach to cleaning operations, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.”
The report did not give specific figures, but a nurse at a private clinic in Sharjah said they were receiving more than 30 patients every four to five days and described the rise in cases as “alarming”.
Of the UAE’s total population of more than 9.2 million, only 10% are Emirati, with millions more low-wage workers from Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
“I call this a double whammy of climate change on a very vulnerable population,” said Barak Alahmad, a research associate at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “I see these migrant workers as being on the front lines of facing the impacts of climate change and their health.”
The effects of the virus have also spread to Iran.
The Islamic Republic of Iran relies on Dubai as a key transit point to other parts of the world due to international sanctions and tensions with the West over its nuclear program.
Iranian Health Minister Shahnam Arsi said on July 9 that 130 of the 149 people infected with dengue were infected in the UAE, while Deputy Health Minister Hossein Farsidi said the first case entered Iran on May 15 after the UAE floods.
In his latest remarks on July 23, Farsidi said the number of infections in the country had risen to 152, but did not provide further details.
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Iran reported its first cases of dengue fever this year, with the number of cases rising to 12 in July, all from the port of Bandar Lengeh in southern Iran.
Earlier this year, the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro declared a public health emergency because of mosquito-borne dengue fever, while in July U.S. officials warned doctors to remain vigilant as the tropical disease broke international records.
“Every year there will be new places and municipalities that are affected by dengue fever and other problems caused by climate change,” said researcher Alahmad. “This is a growing problem. I’m not sure there’s an easy solution to this problem.”
