Towards a Rabies-free Kenya; Kenya takes the bold step!

The 2014 World Rabies Day celebrations may easily be the most important Kenya has held so far. Three occurrences made the 2014 event distinct from the previous ones and a milestone for Kenya. 

The first and most significant was the launch of the National plan to systematically and progressively reduce rabies burden and eventually eliminating the disease in humans through mass-dog vaccination; starting with pilot regions comprising of areas with the highest burden of rabies disease, before spreading the elimination campaign to the rest of the country. Such a plan promising a Kenya free of Rabies by 2030 has not existed before, and the fight against rabies in Kenya has hence been uncoordinated, patchy and unsuccessful.

The second distinct occurrence was the proceedings of the World Rabies Day pre-conference, attended by over 250 veterinarians, para-veterinarians and medical doctors. Most notable was the review of evidence that helped “burst 3 myths” that have encouraged inaction towards rabies in the country and the region.

• Myth 1 has been that Rabies is but a small public health problem. This misconception was countered by the evidence that Rabies kills up to 2000 people in Kenya every year, each of which is 100% preventable.
• Myth 2 has been that wildlife serves as important reservoirs for the rabies virus, and elimination is the difficult without controlling the wildlife phase. Prof. Sarah Cleaveland, a world re-known rabies expert, presented convincing data from the Serengeti ecosystem that demonstrated that controlling rabies in domestic dogs, controlled rabies in wildlife.
• Myth 3 has been that stray dogs are far too many and will be a major hindrance to rabies control.  Participants realized that the contribution and population of strays was exaggerated, and that most ‘stray dogs’ have owners and a number of dogs sufficient to break the rabies cycle are available for parenteral vaccination.

The third distinct occurrence was the quick political buy-in to the vision of rabies elimination in Kenya. Dr. Andrew Mutava, the County Executive Officer for Health in Makueni County where the launch was conducted, stated that his ministry spent up to 24 million shillings (approximately 300,000 USD) annually on anti-rabies vaccines for the more than 2000 patients reporting to his health facilities with dog-bite wounds. He argued that if half of these monies were directed towards dog vaccination, his county would not only save human lives but would also make substantial savings to the health sector, promising to work with his livestock counterpart to eliminate rabies in Makueni. Kenya is comprised of 47 such Counties, each with a budget they can allocate to tackle public health problems such as Rabies.

Kenya has established an effective health and livestock inter-ministerial unit dubbed the Zoonotic Disease Unit (ZDU), which facilitates coordination to control zoonotic diseases in Kenya. The adoption of a National strategic plan for the elimination of Rabies, backed by scientific data, the conducive political environmental and existence of structures such as ZDU for the implementation of the plan are ingredients of a possible success story. Kenya’s journey to rid herself of Rabies is on course. She must believe it is within reach, and like never before, get on to work and be a leading example to her neighbours in the belief, Yes We Can – stop the Rabies menace!

Thumbi Mwangi is a Researcher at the Kenya Medical Research Institute working closely with Kenya’s Zoonotic Disease Unit, and a Faculty member at the Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health, Washington State University.