Partnership will develop roadmap for rabies elimination in Ethiopia

Rabies remains a widespread problem in Ethiopia and a major burden in sub-Saharan Africa, where an estimated 22,000 deaths occur each year.

Dr. Wondwossen Gebreyes, director of Global Health Programs for the College of Veterinary Medicine at The Ohio State University, and professor in the Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine (pictured), is leading a program to develop a plan of action to eliminate rabies in Ethiopia.

The first comprehensive One Health Summer Institute, representing a long-term partnership between Ohio State and a number of Ethiopian government agencies, service organizations and academic institutions, took place during the summer of 2013.

The initiative’s inaugural series of classes, projects and workshops partnered 20 Ohio State faculty and students with hundreds of Ethiopian students, health-care professionals and policymakers eager to improve their nation’s well-being.

“One Health,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, refers to a worldwide effort to “attain optimal health for people and animals by promoting global collaboration between human and veterinary medicine while engaging the principles of public health and ecosystem health.”

Developed last year over a series of meetings in which all seven of Ohio State’s health sciences deans visited Ethiopia to develop plans, the “One Health” partnership is designed to create sustainable and mutually beneficial collaborations primarily in the areas of teaching, research and outreach.

In addition to its contribution to Ohio State’s emphasis on global health and outreach, the initiative represents the first time the university’s health sciences colleges have teamed for an international project of this scope.

According to Dr. Gebreyes, there is no effective surveillance system for numbers of rabies cases or outbreaks. In addition, there is a great deal of education that needs to take place. “There is even a lack of knowledge (among the people) about what happens if a rabid dog bites you,” explained Dr. Gebreyes.  

Dr. Gebreyes spent about a month teaching courses and helping run a stakeholders’ workshop on rabies prevention and control intended to “enable us to develop a roadmap document that will outline a way to eliminate rabies from the region, and to later scale up the program beyond Ethiopia’s borders,” he said.

Submitted by Melissa Weber, Director of Communications and Marketing and The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine and taken in part from Ohio State news release, “Into Africa: Ohio State Partners with Ethiopia on Major Health Initiative”