Two years ago, the OIE Sub-Regional Representation for South-East Asia (OIE SRR SEA) and the OIE Regional Representation for Asia and the Pacific (OIE RR AP) separately organized a workshop on relevant international standards for dog rabies. The OIE SRR SEA worked with ASEAN Member States on this last June 2014 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, while OIE RR AP with Member Countries from South and East Asia last August 2014 in in Tokyo, Japan. Both workshops led to a Benchmarking Document on rabies and rabies initiatives on dog rabies elimination, as these relate to relevant international standards.
As with the previous individual workshops, this joint workshop in 2016 will focus on updating animal rabies situation in the countries and discuss progress and good examples from the region, as well as current impediments and priority needs in achieving compliance to international standards relevant to dog rabies elimination. The workshop will also follow through with the Global Rabies Conference held in Geneva, Switzerland last December 2015, and in particular discuss possible regional action points from the animal health sector in support of the Global Framework for Rabies Elimination which was launched during this conference.