Newsletter Issue 52

The Stepwise Approach towards Rabies Elimination (SARE) is a key initiative to simultaneously acknowledge the complexities of rabies control and to develop a process framework that would make rabies control programs more manageable and effective.

In the Philippines, the GARC online education tools are being integrated into some veterinary college curricula. Here we share two stories about how the skills of students are being boosted so that they can participate more confidently in rabies education and vaccination in their communities.

The Panel of Rabies Program Directors of the Americas (REDIPRA) has proven very successful in moving forward rabies control and elimination activities across Latin America. Based on this success, the idea was conceived to develop similar structures for various sub-regions in Africa.

In celebration of Rabies Awareness Month in the Philippines this March, GARC and the Department of Education (DepEd) are collaborating to include a rabies information campaign as part of the Brigada Eskwela Program for school

A recent article by Elser, et al. in Transboundary and Emerging Diseases provides a helpful analysis of the cost variability involved with expanding or implementing rabies control programs.

To share what inspires those involved in the effort to eradicate rabies, we are taking a closer look at the work and the lives of some of the winners of the World Rabies Day MSD Animal Health Award from 2016. This issue we focus on Dr. Thinlay N. Bhutia, who has spent his career working towards a rabies-free state in his Himalayan home of Sikkim, India.

There is no doubt that the regional program for rabies elimination across Latin America has been a success. Yet the last mile is always the hardest. No less than four different dates for the elimination of rabies have been set and each one missed. Why is this?

Dr Andrea Britton, Dr Helen Byrnes, and Dr Thinlay Bhutia comment on a GARC newsletter article from the last issue which described the Tamil Nadu rabies intervention and cost-effectiveness modelling study by Fitzpatrick et al. in PNAS December 2016.

A collection of new papers brings together the experience and lessons learned from rabies control programmes small and large, research aimed at improving the design and cost effectiveness of rabies control programmes, and analysis of the resources needed to expand rabies control efforts if the global goal is to be reached.

A round-up of recent research relevant to GARC’s mission

A new resource to teach children how to be safe around dogs has been developed for use in First Nations communities of the Labrador region of Canada.

Rabies control involves many ethical issues around free roaming animals, which may not be consciously considered during planning and implementation of rabies programmes.