About the Project

Hong Kong Mosquito Issues

Over the past 30 years, Dengue Fever and Haemorrhagic Dengue Fever have infected more than 2.5 Billion people in 100 countries.

WHAT PROBLEM ARE WE TRYING TO SOLVE?

Before, most mosquito-borne illnesses in Hong Kong were imported cases. Climate change has increased global temperature, increasing the risk of dengue fever, malaria, and Japanese encephalitis in Hong Kong. Mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever ("dengue"), Zika virus and malaria may pose public health threats, even in developed places.

Higher temperatures encourage disease-carrying Aedes mosquitoes to breed, leading to faster growth and longer survival periods. Warmer temperatures also shorten dengue fever's incubation period.

More record-breaking hot years in Hong Kong and an increase in imported and local dengue cases are expected to strain local healthcare systems.

In 2019, Hong Kong reported The Warmest Year since temperature records were started in 1884 with 11 out of 12 months as warmer than usual.

In the Summer of 2018, a sudden spike in cases with more than 19 citizens confirmed to have Dengue Infection in 1 week was unprecedented.

(a total of 29 local cases for 2018)

WHAT TO DO?

Mosquito prevention and control efforts involve deploying traps to sample the mosquito population to enhance surveillance and controlling mosquitoes by chemical means or source reduction of potential habitats. (Passive and Slow)

In Hong Kong, HKSAR Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) will only monitor the dengue vector Aedine mosquitoes and report the Gravidtrap index in selected areas of Hong Kong every 2 to 4 weeks. A real-time monitoring system with faster dengue data announcements throughout Hong Kong is vital. It gives the public up-to-date information on high-risk areas and improves FEHD's and other government departments' location-based decision-making and planning.

Program’s Background

A Smart Intelligent GeoAI Solution to Predict & Tackle Mosquito-borne Diseases in Hong Kong

The project is supported by the HKSAR Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and funded through the Partnership Research Programme of the HKSAR Government's Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF).

Its goal is to create a real-time smart and predictive mosquito monitoring solution in Hong Kong, to enhance mosquito surveillance and provide more user-friendly information through a timely interactive maps to highlight more severe mosquito hotspots.

The system will use cutting-edge smart technologies such as IoTs, GIS, GeoAI, and Deep Learning algorithms to monitor, address, and anticipate the occurrence of mosquito-borne diseases in Hong Kong based on geographical location.

The ultimate goal is to improve the effectiveness of mosquito-borne disease monitoring, thereby contributing to better disease management through community engagement.

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