Targeted support for rabies elimination programmes

With the goal of ending human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030, WHO, FAO, OIE and GARC have released a concept note of how rabies control capacity could be built in country to achieve this. The idea is to develop “stimulus packages” that  provide technical and material support to kick-start canine rabies elimination programmes. Packages would be tailor-made to support individual country needs, with an emphasis on monitoring and evaluation (e.g. using the Stepwise Approach towards Rabies Elimination, SARE). Stimulus packages have already proven catalytic to rabies control in Swaziland and Eastern Cape, and more recently in Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Cameroon. The concept document will be used to seek donor funding for stimulus packages, as part of a broader business strategy to attain zero human rabies deaths by 2030.