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India

© Sasikumar Ramachandran

India has 20,847 preventable rabies deaths each year, and spends a total of US$2,390,332,274 each year on rabies.*

*Hampson et al. (2015) PLoS NTD

The Solution

Why 2030?

The Zero by 30 Global Strategic Plan is the first global plan that has brought together international organizations from both human and animal health to develop and deploy a shared approach to rabies elimination. The UN's Sustainable Development Goals also include the aim to end the epidemics of neglected tropical diseases, including rabies, by 2030. More than 25 governments have now created national workplans for advancing these goals using the Stepwise Approach towards Rabies Elimination (SARE) tool. With these actions combined, the foundations are now in place for the Global Strategic Plan to be operationalized – for the first time – in the very communities that continue to be affected by this disease, via the Communities Against Rabies initiative.

The world has the tools to end rabies

Strategic vaccination campaigns, community education, and monitoring tools can slow the spread of rabies until it dies out entirely. These tools also ensure sustainability, resulting in long-lasting impact and ultimately, dog rabies elimination.

Our Stories

Read about the progress being made in controlling rabies in communities around the world.

How to Eliminate Rabies

  • Vaccinating Dogs

    According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), a number of countries in Latin America have reduced dog-mediated human rabies by almost 98%, thanks to mass dog vaccination.

    With a strategic dog vaccination coverage of up to 70%, impacted communities can effectively end dog-transmitted rabies in people for good. Safe and effective vaccines are available, and this method is the only way to eliminate the disease at its source, besides being the most cost-effective solution.

  • Vaccinating People

    Every year, almost 30 million people receive treatment, following a bite from a dog that is rabid or suspected to have rabies. Likewise, an estimated 2.9 million peopleare saved yearly from rabies thanks to preventative measures. Pre-exposure vaccines are also available for individuals considered to be at high risk for rabies infection, including travelers to endemic countries and workers who could be exposed to the live rabies virus.

  • Educating Communities

    Raising public awareness of rabies, including how to prevent dog bites, vaccinating dogs to prevent the disease, and appropriate treatment and care if exposed to the virus, is critically important to end rabies and save lives.

    The Communities Against Rabies initiative will also recognize and train Dog Health Champions (DHCs) to become the first dog-health focused workforce for rabies elimination. DHCs will be trained to educate their communities on dog health, carry out rabies vaccination, and undertake surveillance.

  • Diagnosing and monitoring the disease

    Laboratories and systems need to be put in place to diagnose cases of rabies in both dogs and humans, and to monitor the progress of control programs. Once rabies has been controlled, this will also help to keep the area rabies-free. GARC’s smartphone based mHealth toolscan deliver disease surveillance in these resource constrained environments.

Rabies and One Health

The One Health approach recognizes that human, animal and environmental health are connected, and that collaborative cross-sector efforts are needed to end zoonotic diseases such as rabies, transmitted from animals to humans.

Rabies elimination plans must include human and animal government agencies, veterinary and human health professionals, educators, scientists, and community groups.

The Stepwise Approach towards Rabies Elimination (SARE) is an internationally recognized and standardized roadmap for countries to help them develop their own plans and measure progress toward achieving rabies prevention, control and elimination. It integrates One Health principles to help countries become rabies-free.