Activities
Activities on rabies in the region
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have been used successfully in eliminating sylvatic rabies from the wildlife reservoirs (red foxes, raccoons, etc.) in North America and Europe. ... There is clearly an interest from countries in the region to learn and understand more about ORVs and their use in complementing dog rabies vaccination.
Barring few countries, rabies is endemic in both humans and animals in most countries in the Asia and the Pacific Region, with over 95% of human rabies cases associated with dog bites. Rabies control and subsequent elimination necessitates multi-sectoral collaboration, using a One Health approach.
In many countries, dog vaccination coverage is low due to several factors such as lack of resources (vaccine, human, fund), lack of coordination, and increasing populations of free-roaming dogs. In most low- and middle-income countries, free-roaming dogs form the bulk of the dog population, and therefore it is difficult to catch and cover under the conventional catch-vaccinate-release approach.
Oral rabies vaccines (ORVs) have been used successfully in eliminating sylvatic rabies from the wildlife reservoirs (red foxes, raccoons, etc.) in North America and Europe. Though there are currently no examples of use of ORVs as part of the official dog-mediated rabies elimination programmes, studies have been conducted in the past and are currently underway in many countries to see the application of ORVs as a tool in complementing parenteral vaccination in dogs.
There is clearly an interest from countries in the region to learn and understand more about ORVs and their use in complementing dog rabies vaccination. The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH, founded as OIE) recommends the use of oral rabies vaccines in dogs with necessary safety and efficacy trials in complementing parenteral mass dog vaccination (MDV) programs in areas where dogs are an important reservoir of rabies virus and where it is difficult to augment parenteral vaccination coverage (Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals 2021 (Chapter 3.1.17)).
On 28 October 2022, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH, founded as OIE) Regional Representation for Asia and the Pacific organised an Information Session on Oral Rabies Vaccines (ORVs), to provide a platform for countries to clarify their questions on ORVs with experts.
The webinar contributed to the following objectives:
An agenda, along with links to each presentation given, is available here:
