Each year on September 28, the international community comes together to promote the fight against rabies. World Rabies Day is a day of action and awareness-raising. Rabies is one of the most deadly zoonoses. According to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), each year, rabies kills nearly 60,000 people worldwide, mostly children in developing countries. The OIE website points out that “… over 95% of human-cases of rabies are due to dog bites and unlike many other diseases, we already have all the tools needed to eradicate it.”
The OIE provides science-based standards, guidelines, and recommendations for the control of the disease in animals and to prevent its spread as well as standards for the diagnosis of rabies and the production of high quality veterinary vaccines. Through its global network of more than 300 Reference Laboratories and Collaborating Centers, the OIE provides policy advice, strategy design and technical assistance for the diagnosis, control and eradication of rabies. The organization works closely with the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) to develop international recommendations aimed at greater intersectoral collaboration and global implementation of the most appropriate strategies. These major health organizations have pledged to eliminate human deaths from dog-transmitted rabies by 2030.
Click here for more information from the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).