Hyderabad: The Union government on Tuesday, January 6, lauded the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) for successfully containing vector-borne diseases, including dengue, citing the city’s technology-driven surveillance and coordinated response as a model for other urban centres across the country.
During the national review meeting of metropolitan surveillance units (MSUs) in Nagpur, the officials in the Centre observed that Hyderabad’s process of disease control was commendable.
GHMC Commissioner RV Karnan made a detailed presentation on Hyderabad’s dengue control strategy in the meeting to highlight the process of disease control. In the presentation titled “Technology-Driven Vector Borne Disease Surveillance & Management – Dengue control success story of Hyderabad,” Commissioner Karnan explained how Hyderabad had significantly reduced dengue cases by 2025 using the VBD app.
The Vector Borne Diseases (VBD) app is used for surveillance, and has been significantly strengthened to identify the diseases.
Geographic Information System (GIS)-based dashboards and real-time data updates enabled quick action on the ground, Commissioner Karnan said, crediting these tools for making immediate field-level action possible.
While praising the GHMC’s effective coordination, the Centre observed effective inter-departmental coordination as a key success factor. It further noted that Hyderabad’s policy and implementation model could be replicated in other metropolitan cities as well.
