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Public health, where our guests build

Vic Levitin builds Diptera.ai, which develops sterile male mosquitoes for mass release against the mosquitoes that carry disease, working from Israel and Thailand. This brief covers the public-health setting in those two markets: dengue and malaria in Thailand, West Nile fever in Israel, how disease surveillance is going digital, who pays for malaria control and the plans and targets behind it.

ThailandIsrael
Checked 20 Oct 2026 · every figure linked to its source · next review Jan 2027

01At a glance

55,013

dengue cases reported in Thailand in 2025 up to 30 November, about 55% of the same period in 2024, WHO's South-East Asia Regional Office reported1.

Partial year, to 30 November. Dengue counts rise and fall from year to year
16,676

malaria cases reported in Thailand in 2023, a 423% surge compared with 2021, the Global Fund's Office of the Inspector General reported2.

Reported cases. Other sources count 2023 on a different basis
125

West Nile fever cases recorded in Israel in June 2024, against an average of 4 in June over 2014-2023, Ministry of Health epidemiologists reported3.

One month. Reported clinical cases, not all infections
96.24%

of Thailand's hospitals, 1,356 of 1,409, were covered by the Department of Disease Control's digital disease surveillance system by December 2024, its epidemiologists reported4.

Covers all 57 notifiable diseases, not only mosquito-borne ones
14.6 million

dengue cases worldwide in 2024, a record, with more than 12,000 deaths reported to WHO5.

Global, full year. Not a Thailand or Israel figure
282 million

malaria cases and 610,000 malaria deaths worldwide in 2024, WHO estimated6.

Modelled estimates, not reported cases

02Mosquito-borne disease in Thailand and Israel

Dengue in Thailand

  • 2025. Thailand reported 55,013 dengue cases and 46 deaths in 2025 up to 30 November, about 55% of the same period in 2024 (99,388 cases and 84 deaths), WHO's South-East Asia Regional Office reported1.
  • 2026 so far. Thailand's cumulative dengue activity in 2026 remained below the corresponding level in 2025 as of mid-September, despite increases earlier in the year, ECDC reported, citing WHO South-East Asia data7.
  • The cost. A Takeda-funded systematic review of dengue in Thailand, published in December 2022, reported an estimated total cost of US$440.3 million a year, an average cost per case of US$41 to US$261, and an average of 7.6 workdays lost for dengue haemorrhagic fever and 6.6 for dengue fever8.
Each line has its own period and source. Dengue counts are surveillance data that rise and fall from year to year, and these sources do not say why they changed. The cost review was funded by Takeda, a vaccine maker, and its total comes from an earlier study. It is a cost of disease, not a market size. ECDC updates its overview monthly.

Malaria in Thailand

  • 2023. Thailand reported 16,676 malaria cases in 2023, a 423% surge compared with 2021, the Global Fund's Office of the Inspector General reported2.
  • Where. Most of Thailand's 2023 malaria cases (93%) were reported in the six provinces that border Myanmar, the Inspector General reported9.
  • Spread. 42 of Thailand's 77 provinces had no malaria cases in 2022, but malaria was re-introduced in seven provinces between 2018 and 2023, the Inspector General reported10.
  • Latest quarter. Thailand reported 2,945 malaria cases from July to September 2025, a 36% decrease compared with the same period in 2024, WHO's Mekong Malaria Elimination Programme reported11.
The 2023 total and the 2025 quarter cover different periods, so together they do not make a trend. The figures describe where cases were reported, not who carried them or why the counts changed.

West Nile fever in Israel

  • June 2024. Israel recorded 125 West Nile fever cases in June 2024, against an average of 4 in June over 2014-2023; 12 of them died, Ministry of Health epidemiologists reported in Eurosurveillance3.
  • Earlier years. Israel recorded 49, 35 and 38 West Nile cases in 2023, 2022 and 2021 respectively, according to Health Ministry data reported by The Times of Israel as the 2024 outbreak passed 800 cases, which it called the worst in more than two decades12.
  • The 2024 season. Israel's Health Ministry said 899 West Nile virus cases and 68 deaths had been recorded since the outbreak began in June 2024, as of 5 September 2024, The Times of Israel reported13.
  • 2026 so far. Israel's health and environmental protection ministries said on 19 August 2026 that West Nile fever cases recorded in Israel that year had reached 17, Xinhua reported14.
Each line has a different basis: one month, annual totals, a running count to 5 September 2024 and a running count to 19 August 2026. They are not one series and are not compared with each other. Apart from the June figure, these counts reach us through news reports of ministry statements. All are reported clinical cases, not all infections, and the 2026 season count was still running when this brief was checked.

03Surveillance: digital systems, forecasting and monitoring

Thailand: digital surveillance and AI forecasting

  • Coverage. Thailand's Department of Disease Control digital disease surveillance system covered 1,356 of 1,409 hospitals (96.24%) by December 2024 and held 2,159,925 records across 57 notifiable diseases, its epidemiologists reported4.
  • Forecasting. The system uses automated time-series forecasting to flag unusual deviations and notifies public health authorities through the LINE messaging app, but its Department of Disease Control developers wrote that they did not include a robust validation framework to assess the predictions' performance15.
  • Next. The Department of Disease Control signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Science and Technology Development Agency to develop big data and intelligent surveillance systems, which its director-general said would help shift from a reactive to a proactive approach16.
These are the department's own descriptions of its system and plans. Its developers did not report how accurate the forecasts are, and the memorandum, reported in March 2026, is a plan with no published results.

Israel: mosquito monitoring

  • Monitoring. Israel's Environmental Protection Ministry said in August 2026 that its nationwide mosquito monitoring system was operating continuously and could identify areas of risk in real time, The Jerusalem Post reported17.
This is the ministry's description of a monitoring network. It did not describe the system as AI, and no performance data was published with the statement.

04Tools against mosquito-borne disease

The sterile insect technique

  • The technique. A 2019 WHO release called the sterile insect technique 'a form of insect birth control' and said new guidance from TDR and the IAEA, developed with WHO and FAO, recommends a phased approach that allows time to test its efficacy, with epidemiological indicators to monitor its impact on disease transmission18.
  • A Thai pilot. In a peer-reviewed proof-of-concept in a village in Chachoengsao province, eastern Thailand, six months of releasing sterile male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, produced by combining radiation with Wolbachia, cut the mean number of females per household by 97.3% compared with control areas; the authors said a randomised trial is needed to show any effect on disease19.
The WHO release dates from 2019, and the Thai pilot ran in one village and counted mosquitoes, not disease. Both are about the technique in general, not about any one company.

Insecticides and vaccines

  • Insecticides. WHO says climate change, conflict and humanitarian crises continue to drive malaria resurgence, and widespread insecticide resistance reduced the impact of vector control tools20.
  • A dengue vaccine. WHO says one dengue vaccine, QDenga, is available and licensed in some countries, but recommends it only for people aged 6 to 16 in high-transmission settings21.
Both statements are global. The vaccine position is from WHO's dengue fact sheet dated August 2025.

05Where the money is moving

Malaria funding worldwide

US$3.9bn

Total investment in malaria control reached an estimated US$3.9 billion in 2024, against a Global Technical Strategy target of US$9.3 billion by 2025, WHO reported22.

Malaria-endemic countries increased their own share of malaria funding to 44% in 2024, WHO reported23.

The total is WHO's estimate of funding, set against a target. It is not money spent, and it is global, not a Thailand figure.

Thailand and the Mekong

  • A regional grant. The Global Fund reduced the funding envelope of its Regional Artemisinin-resistance Initiative grant for January 2024 to December 2026 (RAI 4E), which covers malaria elimination in five Mekong countries including Thailand, to US$146.3 million; the previous grant, RAI 3E (2021-2023), had a US$230.6 million allocation, the Global Fund's Inspector General reported24.
  • Thailand's health scheme. Thailand set a budget of over 265 billion baht for its Universal Coverage Scheme in fiscal 2026, covering more than 47.5 million people and including over 29 billion baht for health promotion and prevention, Thai PBS World reported, citing the National Health Security Office25.
Grant allocations and budgets are what was set aside, not money spent. The Thai health promotion and prevention line covers all programmes, not only mosquito control, and fiscal 2026 ended on 30 September 2026. None of these figures is described as funding any one company.

06Plans, targets and rules

From global strategy to Thai trials

  1. Vector control. The World Health Assembly approved WHO's Global Vector Control Response 2017-2030 in 2017, WHO says26.
  2. Malaria targets. The Global Fund's Inspector General reported in September 2024 that malaria resurgence had pushed back Thailand's target for eliminating P. falciparum malaria from 2023 to 2025, against a regional goal of eliminating malaria in all Greater Mekong countries by 203027.
  3. After donor funding. Thailand's malaria post workers were funded by the Global Fund, and Cambodia, Thailand and Viet Nam had not yet followed up with concrete sustainability and transition plans, the Global Fund's Inspector General reported in September 202428.
  4. Dengue plan. WHO's global strategic plan against dengue and other Aedes-borne arboviruses, launched in October 2024, required US$55 million for one year to September 202529.
  5. A dengue vaccine trial. Thailand's Department of Disease Control said in March 2025 that it planned a three-year clinical trial of a Japanese-developed dengue vaccine registered with the Thai FDA in children aged 7 to 10 in Nakhon Phanom from April 2025, after which the vaccine could be considered for the universal healthcare scheme30.
Thailand's 2025 elimination target year has passed, and no official statement on whether it was met was found when this brief was checked. WHO's dengue plan period ended in September 2025, and its figure is a funding requirement, not money raised. The vaccine trial was a plan, and its start had not been confirmed when this brief was checked.

07Trends to watch

Climate sits behind several of these diseases

WHO links the spread of dengue to climate change bringing higher temperatures, heavier rainfall and humidity31, and says several vectors have expanded their latitude and altitude ranges while the season in which they are active is lengthening32. In Israel, Ministry of Health epidemiologists wrote that the early 2024 West Nile rise could be related to a temperature increase that spring and early summer33.

Thai malaria is concentrated on the Myanmar border

Most of Thailand's 2023 malaria cases (93%) were reported in the six provinces that border Myanmar9, and malaria was re-introduced in seven provinces between 2018 and 202310. WHO says conflict and humanitarian crises, along with climate change, continue to drive malaria resurgence20.

Dengue years rise and fall

Thailand's dengue cases in 2025 up to 30 November were about 55% of the same period in 20241, and its cumulative 2026 activity stayed below the 2025 level as of mid-September, despite increases earlier in the year7. These are surveillance counts in a disease that rises and falls, and the sources do not say why they moved.

Surveillance is going digital faster than it is being tested

Thailand's digital surveillance system covered 1,356 of 1,409 hospitals by December 20244, but its developers wrote that they did not include a robust validation framework for its forecasts15. The next step, big data and intelligent surveillance under an MoU with the National Science and Technology Development Agency, is still a plan16.

Endemic countries carry more of the malaria bill

Malaria-endemic countries increased their own share of malaria funding to 44% in 202423, with total investment estimated at US$3.9 billion against a US$9.3 billion target22. In the Mekong, the Global Fund reduced its regional grant's funding envelope to US$146.3 million for 2024 to 2026, from a US$230.6 million allocation for the previous grant24.

08The problems our guests are solving

Vic Levitin on Building Real
Israel, Thailand

EP10Vic Levitin · Diptera.ai

700,000+

deaths a year are caused by vector-borne diseases, which include malaria and dengue and account for more than 17% of all infectious diseases, according to WHO34.

The Israel-US BIRD Foundation, which invested in the project, said Diptera.ai's sterile-insect system for malaria mosquitoes had been 'validated' on live mosquito populations in Kenya and a second African country, and that the company was preparing for widescale field trials across Sub-Saharan Africa35. In June 2021 Calcalist reported a US$3 million seed round led by Trust Ventures, describing the company as using computer vision, deep biology and automation to sort mosquitoes by sex at the larval stage36.

Vic says Diptera.ai uses computer vision to sex-sort mosquitoes so that sterile males can be mass-released to suppress wild populations. In the episode he describes moving from CrazyLister, his e-commerce listing platform, into biotech with no background in it, funding the work by reframing malaria control as suburban US pest relief, and rebuilding the company from Thailand after war broke out.

Watch the episode →

See how these conversations connect on the Discovery Atlas →

09Sources

One research agent gathered 40 figures from government, regulator and established data sources. A separate red-team agent then reopened every source, checked each number, its scope and its date, and looked for newer or conflicting data. It kept 24 figures as written, corrected 16 and cut 0. Each figure above links to its source below, with the date it refers to.

  1. WHO South-East Asia Regional Office, Biweekly Epidemiological Bulletin, 25th edition, 17 Dec 2025 · 1 Jan to 30 Nov 2025
  2. The Global Fund, Office of the Inspector General, audit report GF-OIG-24-010, 30 Sep 2024 · 2023 (vs 2021)
  3. Mor et al. (Israel Ministry of Health and others), Eurosurveillance 29(30), 25 Jul 2024 · June 2024 (vs June average 2014-23)
  4. Wongsanuphat et al. (Division of Epidemiology, Department of Disease Control), OSIR 18(1), Mar 2025 · As of Dec 2024
  5. WHO fact sheet, Dengue and severe dengue, 21 Aug 2025 · 2024 (fact sheet 21 Aug 2025)
  6. WHO, World malaria report 2025, executive summary, 4 Dec 2025 · 2024
  7. ECDC, Dengue worldwide overview, 28 Sep 2026 (updated 6 Oct 2026), citing WHO SEARO · 2026, to the week of 14-20 Sep
  8. Thisyakorn et al., PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 19 Dec 2022 (funded by Takeda) · Review published Dec 2022 (studies 2009-2019; total from an earlier estimate)
  9. The Global Fund, Office of the Inspector General, audit report GF-OIG-24-010, 30 Sep 2024 · 2023
  10. The Global Fund, Office of the Inspector General, audit report GF-OIG-24-010, 30 Sep 2024 · 2022; 2018-2023
  11. WHO Mekong Malaria Elimination Programme, Epidemiology summary vol. 31 (Jul-Sep 2025), published 28 Jul 2026 · Jul to Sep 2025 (published 28 Jul 2026)
  12. The Times of Israel, 16 Aug 2024, citing Israel's Health Ministry data · 2021-2023 annual; 2024 to 16 Aug
  13. The Times of Israel liveblog, 5 Sep 2024, citing Israel's Health Ministry · June to 5 Sep 2024 (running count, not season total)
  14. Xinhua via The Star, 20 Aug 2026, reporting a joint statement of Israel's health and environmental protection ministries · 1 Jan to 19 Aug 2026 (running count)
  15. Wongsanuphat et al. (Division of Epidemiology, Department of Disease Control), OSIR 18(1), Mar 2025 · Paper published Mar 2025
  16. Healthcare IT News, 15 Mar 2026 · Mar 2026 (plan, no results)
  17. The Jerusalem Post, 1 Aug 2026, reporting Israel's Ministry of Environmental Protection · 1 Aug 2026
  18. WHO news release, 14 Nov 2019 · 14 Nov 2019
  19. Kittayapong et al., PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 28 Oct 2019 · 6-month trial, published 28 Oct 2019
  20. WHO, World malaria report 2025, executive summary, 4 Dec 2025 · World malaria report 2025 (2024 data)
  21. WHO fact sheet, Dengue and severe dengue, 21 Aug 2025 · Fact sheet 21 Aug 2025
  22. WHO, World malaria report 2025, executive summary, 4 Dec 2025 · 2024 (target: 2025)
  23. WHO, World malaria report 2025, executive summary, 4 Dec 2025 · 2024
  24. The Global Fund, Office of the Inspector General, audit report GF-OIG-24-010, 30 Sep 2024 · Allocations: RAI 3E 2021-2023; RAI 4E Jan 2024 to Dec 2026
  25. Thai PBS World, 18 Oct 2025, citing the National Health Security Office · Fiscal year 2026 (budget allocation)
  26. WHO fact sheet, Vector-borne diseases, 26 Sep 2024 · Approved 2017
  27. The Global Fund, Office of the Inspector General, audit report GF-OIG-24-010, 30 Sep 2024 · Targets as stated in Sep 2024
  28. The Global Fund, Office of the Inspector General, audit report GF-OIG-24-010, 30 Sep 2024 · 2024 audit (published 30 Sep 2024)
  29. WHO news release, 3 Oct 2024 · Oct 2024 to Sep 2025
  30. The Nation (Thailand), 14 Mar 2025, quoting the Department of Disease Control director-general · Plan announced 14 Mar 2025 (start Apr 2025 not confirmed)
  31. WHO fact sheet, Dengue and severe dengue, 21 Aug 2025 · Fact sheet 21 Aug 2025
  32. WHO fact sheet, Vector-borne diseases, 26 Sep 2024 · Fact sheet 26 Sep 2024
  33. Mor et al. (Israel Ministry of Health and others), Eurosurveillance 29(30), 25 Jul 2024 · 2024
  34. WHO fact sheet, Vector-borne diseases, 26 Sep 2024 · Annual estimate (fact sheet 26 Sep 2024)
  35. BIRD Foundation news post (based on the company's press release of 8 Dec 2025) · Announced Dec 2025
  36. Calcalist (CTech), 10 Jun 2021 · June 2021