Created and coordinated annually by Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC), World Rabies Day, September 28th, focuses on rabies endemic countries, to increase community awareness of the disease and its prevention. World Rabies Day also raises the profile of national and local control programmes and acts as a springboard for year-round capacity building and awareness.
At the global conference on rabies elimination in 2015, a common goal of zero human deaths from canine rabies by 2030 was agreed by the World Health Organisation.
GARC is the leading non-profit in the field of rabies control. It was formed in 2007 by leading rabies experts from the fields of veterinary sciences, epidemiology, and human medicine. It aims to increase awareness of the continuing threat of rabies around the world. It promotes education about rabies, supports rabies control projects to demonstrate how the impact of this disease can be lessened and advocates at an international level for increased resources for rabies prevention and control.
GARC’s field projects support a community-based integrated approach of education, vaccination diagnosis and surveillance activities in Chad, Indonesia, Philippines and Tanzania.
GARC's mission is to eliminate human deaths from rabies and relieve the burden of rabies in animal populations, especially dogs, through global awareness, national and international advocacy, improved diagnostic and surveillance tools, and community-led programmes.
With increased global attention to neglected diseases, there has been a resurgence of interest in eliminating rabies from developing countries through mass dog vaccination. Tanzania recently embarked on an ambitious programme to repeatedly vaccinate dogs in 28 districts. To understand community perceptions and responses to the programme, experts conducted an anthropological study exploring the relationships between dogs, society, geography and project implementation in the districts of Kilombero and Ulanga, southern Tanzania.
Rabies is endemic in Tanzania with an estimated 1,500 deaths each year. Two decades of research in northern Tanzania has generated important epidemiological insights while demonstrating that the disease can be controlled. Tanzania was among three countries selected by the WHO for large-scale rabies elimination demonstration trials between 2009 and 2013 funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This represented a shift from a localised research project towards an integrated government programme managed by the WHO country office and implemented by government ministries. This ongoing project stretches over 28 districts in Dar es Salaam, Lindi, Morogoro, Mtwara, Pwani and Pemba regions with a diverse population of over 6 million people and an original estimate of 400,000 dogs.
The project comprised annual free dog vaccination campaigns. The project aimed to demonstrate the feasibility of rabies elimination in a sub-Saharan African context with a strong focus on country ownership, envisioned to help catalyse the development of national programmes in other countries.
Most dogs in Africa are owned by a family but are free-roaming and generally quite young; some studies show that half of dogs are less than one year of age. Validated estimates of dog populations are mostly lacking; a recent study in Iringa district, showed that the dog population was six times larger than official estimates. However, such estimates are essential for planning successful mass dog vaccinations.
Despite the feasibility of rabies elimination, most vaccination efforts in Africa have failed to achieve high levels of coverage.
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