Many Thai netizens had been wondering who an enigmatic girl, named Ingma, is and her relevance, after the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) and the Department of Disease Control (DDC) jointly released her image on city hall’s webpage with the statement: “Want to know why millions of people gave rise to this girl? Find out the answer on June 15th.”
Then came the second post, on the same webpage, asking why many people of different occupations are connected with this girl, including sportsmen, government officials, office workers, entrepreneurs, vendors and traders and so on. Keep abreast of her story on June 15th.
The true story of the enigmatic girl was revealed in a 42-second video clip released today (Wednesday). Ingma is a virtual human being, created by the BMA and the DDC as a campaign gimmick based on information from the victims of dengue fever, to warn Thai people of the health risks posed by dengue fever.
Ingma’s face is generated using the faces of 1,237,467 dengue fever patients treated in Thailand over the past 15 years. Her youth also reflects the average age of patients, who are mostly school children aged between 5 and 14 years old.
The June 15th launch date also coincides with the ASEAN Dengue Day. 1,952 dengue cases and two deaths were recorded in Thailand between January 1st and May 18th, 2022, with more infections predicted in mid-year during the rainy season.
