End Rabies: Collaborate, Vaccinate
Since 2007, every year on 28 September, World Rabies Day (WRD) is being observed around the world to highlight the importance of continued actions to prevent and control rabies in humans and animals. Although a 100% vaccine-preventable disease, rabies still kills tens of thousands of humans and animals, worldwide. The OIE has been actively involved in addressing this zoonotic disease by providing latest scientific information related to the prevention and control of rabies in animals and also by implementing several activities in collaboration with global partners.
The OIE has also been undertaking several regional activities in collaboration with its partners, the most recent event being the SAARC Rabies Webinar in May 2020.
The theme for the WRD 2020 is “End Rabies: Collaborate, Vaccinate” and it calls upon all stakeholders to join hands and collaborate in our efforts to eliminate dog-mediated human rabies by 2030 (“Zero-by-30”). The theme also reiterates the need to invest and focus on dog rabies vaccination to achieve the global goal.
This year, the OIE Regional Representation for Asia and the Pacific, Tokyo (OIE RRAP) and OIE Sub-Regional Representation for South East Asia, Bangkok (OIE SRR-SEA) hosted a webinar on 28 September in collaboration with the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok (FAORAP), WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia (SEARO), New Delhi and WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WPRO), Manila. The focus of this year’s webinar was in sharing country experiences related to risk communication, disease surveillance and strategic dog vaccination, and developments in human prophylaxis, besides updates on global progress. We hope that this webinar contributes in enhancing awareness on good practices for rabies control that Members could adopt to further strengthen their actions.
We also encourage Members to organise events, as much as possible, either physically or virtually, depending on your local COVID-19 situation. There are several resources that Members could access and use as shown in links below. Some of the materials are shown at the bottom of this page.
Countries are encouraged to share their World Rabies Day activities on social media using #Rabiesendshere and @OIEAnimalHealth
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