Rabies control in South Asia requires a One Health approach

Krishna Prasad Acharya; Deepak Subedi; Richard Trevor Wilson

doi:10.1016/j.onehlt.2021.100215

Rabies control in South Asia requires a One Health approach

One Health. 2021 Jan 19:12:100215. doi: 10.1016/j.onehlt.2021.100215. eCollection 2021 Jun.

Authors

Krishna Prasad Acharya¹, Deepak Subedi², Richard Trevor Wilson^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Animal Quarantine Office-Kathmandu, Department of Livestock Services, Kathmandu, Nepal.
² Paklihawa Campus, Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Tribhuvan University, Rupandehi, Nepal.
³ Independent Researcher, Kathmandu, Nepal.
⁴ Bartridge House, Umberleigh, United Kingdom, EX37 9AS.

Abstract

Rabies is a vaccine-preventable viral disease present in more than 150 countries around the world. Globally, almost 60,000 people die each year from rabies, of which more than 58% are in Asia and around 45% in South Asia with especially high incidence in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Vaccination coverage of both people and stray dogs is low in the region and in general people are not given enough protection and information about pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis. Engagement of multiple sectors and One Health collaboration including community education, awareness programmes and vaccination campaigns are critical to control and elimination of rabies.

Keywords: Post exposure prophylaxis; Stray dogs; Transboundary diseases; Vaccination.