As a follow-up to the Tripartite SAARC Rabies Webinar organised in May 2020, the OIE organised the Webinar on Mass Dog Vaccination and Tools for SAARC Region on 29th and 30th March 2021 to accelerate actions on elimination of dog-mediated rabies by 2030 in South Asia.
To achieve the global goal of elimination of dog-mediated human rabies by 2030, one of the most important components to focus is the mass vaccination of dogs to create herd immunity. Therefore, the webinar was organised with objectives to share MDV tools and practices: principles, concepts, and methods used in the region and elsewhere to build capacities and encourage countries to upscale MDV. The experts also covered detail concepts and approaches for understanding dog ecology and estimation of dog population focusing on free-roaming dogs. A total of 71 participants including country-nominated participants and observers from the seven SAARC Members and observers from various organisations and countries participated. At the end of the webinar, countries identified priority actions to upscale MDV in the coming 1-2 years. The OIE Regional Representation will follow up with countries for any specific support that they may need to implement the priority activities.
