Rabies Today

In the run up to World Rabies Day, an urgent need to ramp up public and health worker knowledge about this dangerous and deadly disease, not only in rabies-endemic countries but also in countries free from rabies. British nurse Robyn Thomson, whose mother died after a scratch from a puppy in Morocco, shares her  determination to raise rabies awareness across the UK's health sector. We also pr...

In Ukraine, rabies is rising among abandoned pets, and could spread to surrounding countries in Europe. We hear an urgent call for mass vaccination and sterilisation of dogs to avert catastrophe. In Tanzania,  international endorsement of the national rabies control plan is helping to secure more funding. And we are reminded of the critical importance of immediate and thorough wound-washing in any...

The battle against rabies is complex and difficult.  But imagine having to fight rabies in a country at war.  In this episode, we meet three people working in enormously challenging circumstances in Afghanistan, South Sudan and Ukraine.  From Ukraine we learn that soldiers on the front line are being put at risk of rabies as abandoned animals reproduce and are running wild. In Afghanistan, interna...

South African rabies expert Kevin Le Roux told colleages at the United Against Rabies Forum in Cape Town that rabies data will never be perfect, so what is vital is to act to control the disease and save lives. Meanwhile Dr Joseph Nkhoma of Malawi points out that lack of data is a huge impediment to getting political and financial support for rabies control.  Another hot topic at the UAR forum was...

World Rabies Day is September 28th, an important day for community mobilization around dog vaccination and raising public awareness. But what's really successful when working with communities? And what is happening at national and international levels around World Rabies Day? This episode introduces the new Chair of United Against Rabies, Dr Lucille Blumberg, and also looks forward to the ann...

Rabies still kills at least 25,000 people each year in Africa, many of them children. It also kills huge numbers of livestock animals at great cost to farming and pastoral communities. In this episode, Katie Hampson reports from northern Tanzania where there has been some progress in bringing rabies under control, but also meets a family whose  son has recently been infected. Across Africa , the p...

Human rabies vaccines for PEP save lives by stopping the deadly virus reaching the central nervous system. But these lifesaving vaccines are often unavailable or unaffordable, especially in marginalized communities in Asia and Africa where rabies is still a significant public health problem. On 12 June 2024, Gavi begins the rollout of a new program to help over 50 countries to access human rabies...

Dog-mediated rabies is on the rise in Southeast Asia, including in areas that were previously rabies free. Could a new ASEAN strategy finally turn the tide in the region to address low dog vaccination rates, insufficient provision of human rabies vaccines for PEP and lack of resources? And how are rabies concerns driving regulation of the dog meat trade? Rabies Today is produced by United Against...

Professor Katie Hampson will be back soon with a new series of Rabies Today. Stay tuned!  Send us Fan Mail We would love to hear from you. You can find us on X/Twitter: UARForum LinkedIn: United Against Rabies Instagram: UnitedAgainstRabies_ Facebook: United Against Rabies Join the conversation by using the hashtag #RabiesToday. Rabies Today is produced by United Against Rabies : working together...

"Zero by 30" is the Global Strategic Plan to achieve zero human deaths from dog- mediated rabies by 2030. It was published in 2018, well before the pandemic. With just 7 years to go, can “Zero by 30” still be achieved? What progress has been made since the goal was set? Does it need to be extended? Join h ost Prof Katie Hampson and her expert guests as they map out international prioriti...

In the Americas, canine rabies variants have infected several wildlife species which now maintain independent cycles of transmission. In Namibia, kudu have emerged as unlikely species to be especially vulnerable to rabies transmission within the herd. Join Professor Katie Hampson and her guests in a fascinating conversation about rabies, dogs and wildlife and what that means for efforts to achieve...

Professor Katie Hampson and  guests discuss the diverse strategies they employ at local level to tackle rabies. From education to religion and local customs to politics, context is critical. With Dr Kenneth Chawinga, Senior Inspectorate and Regulatory Officer of Veterinary Public Health, Lusaka, Zambia, Dr Rey del Napoles, Division Chief, Animal Care and Disease Control, Quezon City, The Philippin...

Dogs and people have lived together for thousands of years. As the main source of rabies infections in humans (over 90%), controlling rabies in dogs is essential to ending human rabies deaths.   In this episode we’re discussing how different concepts of dog ownership in Asia and Africa affect mass dog vaccination, testing and disease surveillance. We'll be talking about the connection between...

Only a fraction of human rabies cases are reported to the WHO's Global Health Observatory and the quality of national data on rabies deaths is extremely variable. In Episode 2 in this series, Professor Katie Hampson explores the barriers to effective rabies reporting and what that means for rabies control efforts. Katie's guests are Dr Ryan Wallace of the US Centers for Disease Control,...

We've had life-saving vaccines to prevent rabies from killing people for over 100 years, yet millions of people, mainly in Africa and Asia, still lack access to these essential medicines. Join Professor Katie Hampson and her guests as they hear what happens to many dog bite victims in countries like Burkina Faso, and the potential for investment by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance , to make a real...