Alex Jackson

Alex Jackson

UK-based journalist and global editorial manager. Writes about science, the environment, health and technology.

Passionate about communicating the lesser-known human interest stories from across the globe, and championing scientists and voices from under-represented backgrounds and communities in reportage.

Contributed to The Guardian, Nature, Scientific American, BBC, Reuters, Japan Times, Mail & Guardian, Yorkshire Post, Geographical Magazine and Huffington Post.

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World Mosquito Program •

Why diverse perspectives matter in the fight against mosquito-borne disease

“Dengue is not the fight of one person, it's the fight of everyone, of the whole world,” says Matheo Seleone, a community volunteer in New Caledonia. Dengue has long cast a shadow on his community. The virus hit him hard and sadly killed his neighbour — something that has stayed with him for almost 40 years. It is why he believes awareness and involvement from all corners of the community in controlling the spread of mosquito-borne diseases is so important.
World Mosquito Program •

Dengue cases drop to 20-year low in the Aburrá Valley, Colombia

New research by the World Mosquito Program (WMP) and the University of Antioquia, published today in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, shows dengue cases have dropped to the lowest level in 20 years across Colombia’s Aburrá Valley following large-scale releases of Wolbachia mosquitoes. WMP’s city-wide deployments of Wolbachia mosquitoes between 2015 and 2022 in Bello, Medellín and Itagüi — protecting more than three million people — have seen dengue incidence rates drop by at least 95 per cent.
World Mosquito Program •

Wolbachia: A natural solution to fighting dengue in Bali

Since the first case of dengue in Indonesia almost 55 years ago, the mosquito-borne disease has emerged as a major national public health concern. It cripples the local health systems and economy, and leads to hundreds of thousands of Indonesians, mostly children and young adults, suffering from the disease. Experts are now looking to a natural tool called Wolbachia in the fight against dengue.
World Mosquito Program •

Battling dengue and chikungunya in El Salvador

Claudia Lara has seen the impact of dengue more than most. As a paediatrician with over 25 years experience working in El Salvador’s capital city, San Salvador, she has witnessed the brutal consequences of major mosquito-borne outbreaks and the effects on young people and children. “I think every Salvadoran knows the classic symptoms of dengue,” says Lara, who herself has suffered from the disease. “Dengue almost killed me — I got dengue hemorrhagic fever.”
World Mosquito Program •

WMP's first youth influencer returns to Bali

Nabila Ismail was 16 days into the trip of a lifetime. Having booked a one-way ticket to Bali, the Pakistani-American travel writer and pharmacist was plotting her route around the globe, when she caught dengue on the island last summer. “I took it as a bad omen,” she laughs. Just weeks before leaving New York for the Indonesian province, Ismail had coincidentally been researching a piece for the Pharmacy Times on vaccine developments for the fastest spreading mosquito-borne disease.
World Mosquito Program •

Alicinda Tibério: The indigenous leader on empowering her community to combat dengue with the Wolbachia method.

The indigenous leader on empowering her community to combat dengue with the Wolbachia method. Alicinda Tibério remembers the impact of dengue like it was yesterday. “The symptoms are dreadful,” she says. The indigenous leader of the Água Bonita Urban Village, in Campo Grande, west central Brazil, was in bed for almost 15 days when she was diagnosed with dengue following a blood test.
World Mosquito Program •

Dengue’s deadly impact on children

"I hallucinated that I was going to die," says Thinh Cuong Trinh. At just 13-years-old, Thinh has already been hospitalised twice by dengue. He vividly recalls the crippling fever, loss of appetite, headaches and fatigue that have become a part of his childhood. It’s a disease which has drained his family emotionally. In Thu Dau Mot, a small but thriving urban centre which skirts the Saigon River in Southern Vietnam, where Thinh lives, dengue has long cast a shadow over the proud local community
World Mosquito Program •

Explicativo: Cómo el cambio climático está amplificando las enfermedades transmitidas por mosquitos | World Mosquito Program

Las enfermedades transmitidas por mosquitos matan a más de un millón de personas e infectan hasta 700 millones cada año: casi una de cada diez personas. A medida que el planeta se caliente y el cambio climático alargue la temporada de mosquitos, la criatura más mortal del mundo expandirá su rango geográfico a nuevas regiones y volverá a emerger en áreas donde el número de mosquitos había disminuido por décadas. Patrones climáticos extremos tales como sequías, olas de calor, inundaciones y p
World Mosquito Program •

Explainer: How climate change is amplifying mosquito-borne diseases | World Mosquito Program

Mosquito-borne diseases kill more than one million people and infect up to 700 million each year – almost one in ten people. As the planet warms and climate change lengthens the mosquito season, the world’s deadliest creature will expand its geographical range to new regions and re-emerge in areas where mosquito numbers had subsided for decades. Extreme climate and weather patterns such as droughts, heatwaves, floods, and rainfall are increasing in severity and regularity across the globe.