The OIE organised a sub-regional workshop for South–East Asia to present the updated Chapter 8.14 of the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Ccode, and the procedures for the endorsement of official control programme and for the self-declaration of freedom from rabies or dog-mediated rabies.
Having an official control programme for dog-mediated rabies endorsed by the OIE will facilitate national Veterinary Services to advocate for support from their governments and hence to progressively prevent and control the disease until they can be eventually eliminated from their territories, which paves the way for Members to self-declare freedom from dog-mediated rabies.
The first list of Members having an OIE endorsed official control programme was adopted during the OIE General Session in May 2021. The Philippines is one of the two first countries that had their official control programmes for dog-mediated rabies endorsed by the OIE.
More South-East Asian countries would be in condition and are encouraged to apply for the endorsement of their rabies official control programmes in the future and/or make a submission to the OIE for the publication of their self-declaration of country or zone rabies or dog-mediated rabies freedom.
In this context, the OIE hold a virtual South East Asia Sub-Regional Workshop on OIE international standards supporting self-declaration of freedom from rabies, and endorsement of official control programme. It is expected that the workshop will assist countries to better understand the requirements and procedure for the official endorsement and self-declaration to further refine their national rabies control programmes.
Furthermore, the workshop will facilitate exchanges of country experiences, challenges, and achievements to date in pursuing consistency with the international standards and implementing rabies-related initiatives towards “Zero by 30”.
The objectives of the meeting were to:
Day 1
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Day 3
