India Urges ‘One Health’ Strategy for Rabies Eradication

Quick Summary

• Professor Katie Hampson of the university of Glasgow emphasized the need for mass dog vaccination,animal birth control,and post-exposure prophylaxis to eliminate rabies globally by 2030 during a keynote address at a national symposium in Kerala.
• The event, organized by Kerala University of Health Sciences (KUHS), focused on “Rabies and One Health: towards Zero by 2030.”
• Dr. Hampson highlighted that enduring processes and collaborative efforts are necessary to combat rabies effectively. Reactionary approaches are insufficient.
• Latin America has achieved zero rabies deaths through widespread dog vaccination over two decades. Asia reports human rabies deaths despite heavy investments in post-exposure prophylaxis.
• In Kerala,an estimated 300 dog rabies cases occur for every human death from the disease.Integrated Bite Case Management Strategy was identified as critical for improving surveillance under the one Health approach.
• Long-term planning, skill-building initiatives, and coordinated stakeholder engagement were underscored as essential to achieving canine rabies elimination globally.
• Experts including Martha Luka (University of Glasgow), Reeta S. Mani (NIMHANS), Manoj V. Murhekar (ICMR-NIE), Julie Corfmat (Mission Rabies India), among others lead workshops at the symposium.

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Indian Opinion Analysis

The growing recognition of One Health capabilities indicates a promising shift towards integrated approaches to public health challenges like rabies in India. The emphasis on sustainable strategies such as mass dog vaccination reflects lessons learned internationally-particularly from Latin America’s success in achieving zero human rabies deaths over two decades-with direct applicability for india’s context.

Kerala’s data underscores the scale and urgency needed to address this issue locally; managing hundreds of canine cases per each human fatality reveals gaps in current practices such as surveillance and preventive care systems. Importantly, adoption of comprehensive frameworks like Integrated Bite Case Management underlines preparedness but still necessitates cohesive participation across stakeholders.

india has made strides with investments into post-exposure prophylaxis but can further integrate preemptive measures alongside capacity-building efforts mentioned during this symposium. If sustained collaboration continues between veterinary experts, public health authorities, researchers, and community leaders-as suggested-the goal toward eliminating canine-transmitted diseases by 2030 appears plausible.

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