From Awareness to Action: Strengthening The Global Fight Against Rabies

The world’s most diabolical virus; Rabies is one of the oldest recognized diseases affecting warm blooded animals and it remains to be one of the most important zoonotic diseases affecting the developed countries causing heavy losses in human and livestock population. Dogs play an important role in maintenance and spread of rabies across the world resulting in nearly 10,000 human death every year in the country. The widespread of this disease is due to poor implantation of intervention strategies that included dog bite wound management practices, unavailability, and unaffordability of post exposure prophylaxis (PEP), failure to control the disease in free roaming dogs, improper dog population management, weak surveillance and diagnostic facilities and a lack of ‘One Health’ approach to this disease. The Global Action Plan (GAP) constitutes rabies elimination centered platform supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organization of Animal Health (OIE). Aptly called ‘United Against Rabies’ (UAR), these three organizations are collaborating towards the fruition of common objectives to eliminate the disease from the world by 2030.