Managing Dengue Outbreak in Lahore, Pakistan: Efficacy of Government Response and Lessons for the Future

This article aims at exploring and analyzing reasons for the spread of dengue outbreak in Lahore, Pakistan, in 2011. This led to about 300 deaths. Also, this study intends to review the appropriateness of government response in managing the dengue outbreak. The contributing factors in the spread of dengue disease included, among others, the demographic structure of Lahore district, environmental conditions, and urbanization and slum development with lack of health facilities. Furthermore, managerial and coordination failures at the level of city district government aggravated the situation. The governance failure was manifested by the non-framing of dengue disease as a public policy concern, especially when it had affected almost 4,500 persons leading to three deaths in the year 2010. There were coordination failures with tertiary level health institutions, and the city government was unprepared. Concrete and effective steps were taken when chief minister of the Punjab province intervened personally. The strategy adopted by the provincial government was so successful that in the year 2012, there were only 252 dengue cases and no deaths were reported. However, there is still need to improve coordination at the city government level and to institute a preventive regime to manage an outbreak in the future.