Researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine have launched a real-time dengue tracking dashboard backed by AXA, as the insurance sector faces growing pressure to price and manage risks tied to the mosquito-borne disease.
The Global Dengue Observatory, an online tool providing monthly case estimates across 88 countries, is supported by the AXA Research Fund, now part of the AXA Foundation for Human Progress.
The World Health Organisation estimates that roughly half the global population is at risk of dengue, with over 14 million cases recorded in 2024.
So far in 2026, the observatory estimates 253,173 cases have been reported worldwide, below the five-year average. The dengue season is expected to begin peaking in several countries this month, notably Brazil and Argentina.
The tool arrives as insurers grapple with the expanding geographic reach of dengue-carrying mosquitoes. By spring 2025, three outbreaks had been documented in the Mediterranean, prompting brokers and underwriters to re-examine travel insurance coverage.
That shift is already visible in product design. Travel insurers have increasingly folded tropical disease coverage into standard policies, encompassing medical expenses, evacuation, and quarantine costs, Travel and Tour World reported last year.
Demand for Cancel for Any Reason coverage has also risen, giving policyholders greater flexibility to withdraw from trips amid health uncertainties.
In endemic markets, the response has been more targeted. ICICI Lombard, one of India's largest general insurers, has previously offered add-on covers specifically for dengue and chikungunya on its health insurance policies.
A 2024 study published in SSRN estimated that dengue will impose an economic burden of 306 billion international dollars globally between 2020 and 2050, with India, Indonesia, and China bearing the heaviest costs.
Earlier research from Brandeis University, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, had put the annual global cost at US$8.9 billion.
For the insurance industry, the observatory's value may extend beyond public health. Real-time, country-level case data could feed into underwriting models, help reinsurers monitor accumulation risk across dengue-exposed portfolios, or serve as an independent data source for parametric products that pay out based on predefined outbreak triggers.
An OECD report on technology in insurance found that roughly 20% to 23% of European insurers were already supplementing underwriting and pricing with external data sources.
Professor Oliver Brady of LSHTM, the observatory's director, said the dashboard allows governments and the public to "see how serious dengue is in different parts of the world, allowing them to be better prepared and act faster to prevent outbreaks."
Tara Foley, CEO of AXA UK&I, said the insurer is "proud to support this essential and ground-breaking project" through the AXA Foundation for Human Progress.
The dashboard is accessible at globaldengueobservatory.org.
