Activities
Activities on rabies in the region
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The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH, founded as OIE), Regional Representation for Asia and the Pacific (RRAP), Japan, jointly with WOAH Reference Laboratory for Rabies based at Karnataka Veterinary Animal and Fisheries Sciences University (KVAFSU), Bengaluru India and Mission Rabies, organised the Regional Training of Trainers Workshop on Mass Dog Vaccination (MDV) at Veterinary College, Hebbal, Bengaluru, India from 28 November to 2 December 2022.
Twenty-four government officials working on rabies control from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka were trained on concepts, tools, and strategies on MDV, oral rabies vaccination, dog population management (DPM), rabies diagnosis and surveillance.
Besides theory, participants were trained on practical use of the WVS MDV App which is a useful tool for implementation and monitoring of MDV and DPM. Participants were also showed practical demonstration of how oral rabies vaccine (ORV) baits are delivered using the hand-out and retrieve method which is WOAH recommended delivery of oral rabies vaccines. For the demonstration, only baits containing water in blister packing were used instead of oral rabies vaccines.
Participants also received hands-on training on the occipital foramen method of brain sampling, which is a simple, non-invasive method recommended by WOAH.
Participants visited the WOAH Reference Laboratory for Rabies at the Veterinary College and had first-hand demonstration of rabies diagnostic tests used such as the lateral flow assay, direct fluorescent antibody test (DFA) and the direct rapid immunohistochemistry test (DRIT).
The participants made field visits to see the implementation of dog population management and MDV activities undertaken by the Bengaluru Municipal Authority (BBMP) and visited one of the animal birth control centres.
With this training, it is expected that the trainees would have gained knowledge on the principles, concepts, tools, strategies available for planning, implementation and monitoring of MDV, ORV, and DPM.
It is expected that these cohort of trainees would transfer their knowledge and skills to their staff working on rabies control once they resume their work in their countries.
In about six months, WOAH RRAP will follow up with the participants to see what initiatives and/or progress has been made on MDV in these countries
An agenda, along with links to each presentation given, is available here:
Agenda – Regional Training on Trainers Workshop on Mass Dog Vaccination
