Training on Rabies, Prevention and Management
Rabies is a vaccine-preventable viral disease that occurs in more than 150 countries and territories. Dogs are the main source of human rabies deaths, contributing up to 99% of all rabies transmissions to humans. Interrupting transmission is feasible through the vaccination of dogs and prevention of dog bites. Rabies is present on all continents, except Antarctica, with over 95% of human deaths occurring in the Asia and Africa regions. Rabies is one of the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) that predominantly affects poor and vulnerable populations who live in remote rural locations. Approximately 80% of human cases occur in rural areas. Although effective human vaccines and immunoglobulins exist for rabies, they are not readily available or accessible to those in need. Globally, rabies deaths are rarely reported and children between the ages of 5 to 14 years are frequent victims. The sessions in this course take the participants through rabies clinical management, care points in animal handling, and a rabies control program aspect.