Sri Lanka takes action towards a target of zero rabies death by 2020.
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Date
2016-09
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia
Abstract
Rabies is a 100% vaccine-preventable and 100% fatal zoonotic, viral disease.
It is usually spread to humans by saliva, through bites or scratches. Dogs are
the source of the vast majority of human deaths from rabies. Political will and
leadership have been the main drivers for success of the Sri Lankan effort to
reduce the burden of disease attributable to rabies. Post-exposure prophylaxis,
which is available in government health facilities, at no cost, to all bite patients,
has been a main axis of the rabies-elimination strategy. To attain the last mile in
rabies elimination in Sri Lanka by 2020, more will need to be done to scale up
dog vaccination, enforce responsible dog ownership, strengthen surveillance for
animals and humans and conduct mass awareness programmes. Sri Lanka is the
first country in the World Health Organization South-East Asia Region to develop
a national strategy for elimination of dog-mediated rabies and is a key country in
sharing knowledge, expertise and capacity-building in the region, towards a global
target of zero rabies deaths by 2030.
Description
Keywords
dog bites, rabies, rabies elimination, Sri Lanka
Citation
WHO South-East Asia Journal of Public Health 2016;5(2): 113-116.