International Advocacy for Rabies Control Moves Forward

The last few months have seen several encouraging developments in international support for rabies control:

In July, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) invited comments from member countries on an expanded vaccine portfolio, with rabies amongst an additional 5 new vaccines being seriously considered. Inclusion of rabies in the GAVI portfolio would be a huge step towards making rabies control affordable and better accessible for those countries least able to tackle the problem without external support.

At the 14th REDIPRA in Lima, Peru in August, the heads of the Latin American Rabies Control programmes came together to reassert their commitment to the elimination of canine rabies from their continent by 2015. The meeting concluded that dog-mediated human rabies is feasible and that their objective is in reach, that there is technical knowledge available in the region to achieve this, but that there remain challenges related to sustainability and the political responsibilities at the different administrative levels. The meeting developed a specific action plan to address remaining issues including strengthened surveillance and regional standards for the declaration of dog-rabies free areas.

Rabies was also on the agenda of the 2nd World summit of the World Veterinary Association, held in Prague, Sept, 2013, with the theme “Partnerships for effective prevention, control and emergency response”.  The discussions concluded that a true one health approach to disease management requires not only different professional disciplines engaging together, but also the consideration and inclusion of the communities’ “local expert” knowledge. Additionally, a sustainable implementation of a one health approach relies on an effective interface between research and policy uptake.

On the occasion of World Rabies Day, FAO, OIE and WHO issued a joint statement which reconfirmed all three organizations’ commitment towards the control of canine rabies, but especially their willingness to co-ordinate their positions and activities under the tri-partite umbrella to jointly work towards the goal of global canine rabies elimination. The resolution for a tri-partite world rabies day statement was taken during the Partners for Rabies Prevention meeting convened by GARC this year. For the tri-partite organizations, rabies (alongside zoonotic influenza and antimicrobial resistance) has become a priority to showcase the evident benefits of a one health approach.

A special symposium organized by the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) and the OIE and entitled “One Health: Rabies And Other Disease Risks From Free-Roaming Dogs” took place in Paris in early November. The meeting participants concluded the two-day meeting with a joint statement signed by the Directors of WSAVA and the OIE. The statement lists seven key recommendations that recognise the bond between humans and dogs, but also the risks for disease transmission. Jointly they urged the governments of the world, especially of countries in which canine rabies virus infection is endemic, to engage with control programmes to work towards the global elimination of rabies, as this is major vaccine-preventable zoonosis.

Each of these developments individually represents a clear and valuable role in keeping rabies on the agenda of the members of each of those organizations. Taken together, however, these discussions, statements, recommendations, and action plans constitute a growing movement towards raising canine rabies control and its eventual global elimination up the international health agenda.

Contributed by Louise Taylor and Lea Knopf of GARC