Challenges to the Fight against Rabies—The Landscape of Policy and Prevention Strategies in Africa

Andrea Haekyung Haselbeck, Sylvie Rietmann, Birkneh Tilahun Tadesse, Kerstin Kling, Maria Elena Kaschubat-Dieudonné, Florian Marks, Wibke Wetzker and Christa Thöne-Reineke
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Andrea Haekyung Haselbeck: International Vaccine Institute, Seoul 08826, Korea
Sylvie Rietmann: International Vaccine Institute, Seoul 08826, Korea
Birkneh Tilahun Tadesse: International Vaccine Institute, Seoul 08826, Korea
Kerstin Kling: Immunization Unit, Robert Koch Institute, 13353 Berlin, Germany
Maria Elena Kaschubat-Dieudonné: Institute of Animal Welfare, Animal Behavior and Laboratory Animal Science, Center for Veterinary Public Health, Freie University Berlin, 14163 Berlin, Germany
Florian Marks: International Vaccine Institute, Seoul 08826, Korea
Wibke Wetzker: Clinic for Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Jena University Hospital, 07743 Jena, Germany
Christa Thöne-Reineke: Institute of Animal Welfare, Animal Behavior and Laboratory Animal Science, Center for Veterinary Public Health, Freie University Berlin, 14163 Berlin, Germany

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: Nearly 59,000 human deaths worldwide are attributable to rabies annually, of which more than a third occur in Africa. In recent years, progress has been made in both action and collaboration including implementation of surveillance and prevention measures. In this review we assess the scale of surveillance, preventive, and control efforts of canine-transmitted human rabies in African countries. We reviewed literature published from 2014 to 2018, retrieved from electronic databases including MEDLINE, Global Index Medicus, BIOSIS, Science Citation Index, and EMBASE. WHO reports, national disease control program reports, and conference proceedings were also reviewed. The database search was conducted using keywords including rabies, control, and prevention. In forty countries (40/54), some level of rabies control and prevention strategy was available while in fourteen (14/54) countries, no specific national control and prevention strategy for human rabies could be retrieved. Thirty-four (34/54) countries utilized the Stepwise Approach towards Rabies Elimination (SARE) tool to monitor the national rabies control efforts—five of these countries were at the lowest tier (0/5) of the SARE scoring system while no country had achieved the highest score (5/5). High burden countries need to step up the implementation of context specific national rabies control, prevention, and monitoring strategies. As a zoonosis, rabies control and elimination require coordination between human and veterinarian health sectors under the “One Health” umbrella and with national master plans on the prevention and control of neglected tropical diseases ending in 2020, the time to act is now.

Keywords: rabies; zoonoses; prevention; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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