Government and International Partners
Collaborate
to Eliminate Rabies in Haiti
One Health Workshop, Sept 14-16, aims to develop national strategy for rabies
control
Port-au-Prince, Sept. 7, 2015 — A global consortium of organisations is
partnering with the Haitian government to tackle the threat of rabies, which
continues to kill people, the majority of them children, throughout the country.
At a three-day One Health Workshops for Rabies Prevention and Control, from
September 14-16, the partners intend to train community gatekeepers to expand
awareness of rabies prevention and to develop a strategic, coordinated approach
to rabies control in Haiti.
While dog-transmitted rabies is effectively controlled or eliminated in much of
the Americas, it remains a problem in Haiti, which accounts for as much as 70%
of all human cases in the region. Dogs are responsible for more than 99% of
human rabies cases. Without comprehensive rabies vaccinations for dogs and
timely access by people to treatment for rabid dog bites, rabies is 99.9% fatal.
It is estimated that thousands of Haitians are exposed to rabies each year
through dog bites, and several hundred people die. In Haiti such as in many other
countries, most rabies deaths occur in young children because of their frequent
interaction with free-roaming dogs. Dog-transmitted rabies can be eliminated
from Haiti, as it has been elsewhere, by implementing effective policies, including
humane policies for dog population management, educating the public, and
strengthening the public health and veterinary medical infrastructure.
At the September One Health workshop, partners will develop a comprehensive
plan to end rabies deaths in Haiti. The workshops are taking a One Health
approach, recognising that the best way to eliminate rabies is to coordinate
efforts between human and animal health sectors. The One Health workshops
aim to empower communities to prevent and control dog bites and rabies cases.
Experts will engage two key audiences critical to saving lives and eliminating
dog-transmitted rabies from Haiti.
In the first workshop, rabies control experts from the government and
nongovernmental organizations will come together to develop a strategic,
coordinated approach towards rabies control in Haiti, and establish a national
task force for rabies control.
The second group involves community-based animal health educators,
including veterinary agents and technicians, who will be trained to
become certified community rabies educators.
Educating children, who are most often the victims of rabies, about how to
humanely and responsibly care for dogs, is an important adjunct to dog
vaccination. The Minister of Education has been invited to join the workshop to
explore possibilities for incorporating these topics in schools.
Experts have been drawn from the workshop’s organising partners, which
include Haiti’s Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources Development,
Ministry of Public Health, and the Ministry of National Education and Vocational
Training, the Pan American Health Organisation/ World Health Organisation,
Continuing Promise 2015 - U.S. Naval Ship Comfort, Humane Society
International, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Christian Veterinary
Mission, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Global
Alliance for Rabies Control. (For a full list of partners with quotes, please see the
attached partners list.)
The One Health Workshops in Haiti will launch two weeks of dog vaccinations in
the run up to World Rabies Day on 28 September. Workshop sponsors include
the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Humane Society International and the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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