Major rabies-curbing campaign picks steam

DEUS NGOWI in Arusha

EXTENSIVE researches have commenced in different parts of Africa in the quest to control rabies, of which 99 per cent of infections to humans are due to dog bites.

Six researchers under Afrique One-African Science Partnership for Intervention Research Excellence (ASPIRE) have embarked on the research in different countries to curb 3.6 deaths per 100 individuals yearly in rural Africa.

They have been meeting in Arusha to strategise on the initiative. One of the researchers, Mr Ahmed Lugelo from College of Veterinary Medicine and Medical Sciences of Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), said that rabies was a deadly zoonosis that kills 59,000 people annually, mostly in Africa and Asia.

“A large body of epidemiological evidence suggests that the global elimination of canine rabies is feasible and it is now a declared objective of international agencies with a target of zero human deaths from canine mediated rabies set for 2030,” he said.

He noted, however, that gaps remained regarding implementation of cost-effective and sustainable intervention strategies and research translation into effective national, regional and global policies.

Mr Kennedy Lushasi from Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) said rabies was a neglected disease with the main burden lying in Africa and Asia where surveillance capacity was limited in both animal and human health sectors.

He said disease detection was hampered by inadequate laboratoryfacilities, and difficulties in submitting samples from remote areas for confirmation. However, he said large-scale control programmes were now being rolled out in sub-Saharan Africa.

“However, there is a very limited guidance on integrated rabies surveillance to improve case detection as elimination is approached, or how to manage control programmes once progress towards elimination has been made,” he said.

Mr Lwitiko Sikana from IHI warned that children were the most vulnerable groups to rabies, adding that there was a great need to raise awareness of the disease and motivate peple to prevent it, as part of zoonosis interventions.

Ms Andree Ndour from Icole InterEtats des Sciences et Medicine Veterinaires of Dakar, Senegal, said relevant and efficient vaccines for animals and humans were frequently inaccessible and not affordable in low-income countries.

She noted that studies in Chad and Tanzania showed that mass dog vaccinations were cost-effective and a sustainable way to control rabies in the long term.

“To be able to introduce interventions on a large scale, quantitative data on the economics of rabies were necessary to show its impacts on public health and its benefit to animal and human health systems through the control of vector populations,” she explained.

Mr Christian Tetteh Duamor from Accra School of Hygiene in Ghana, said the disease had an almost 100 per cent fatality rate, with 3.9 billion people at risk while in Tanzania around 1,500 died annually.

Another researcher, Mr Vessaly Kallo from Universite Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, proposed initiation of a mass dog vaccination drive. He said over the last three years, 60 people were registered to have died, but there are concerns that many patients were not on record, hence deaths.

ASPIRE seeks to build capacities of the new generation of African scientists in human-animal-environmental health through the One Health approach. Tanzania is represented by seven institutions out of 15 across West and East Africa and Europe.