FAO's Crucial Role in Advancing Rabies Elimination Highlighted During World Rabies Day Celebration in Ethiopia

2 October 2023, Addis Ababa– The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) takes center stage in the fight against rabies as Ethiopia celebrates World Rabies Day 2023 under the theme "All for 1, One Health for All." This event observed globally on 28 September, serves as a crucial platform to advocate for rabies elimination and raise awareness.

This year's celebration in Ethiopia holds special significance as it coincides with vital milestones that catalyze the scaling up of rabies elimination programs in the country. Joint external evaluations conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the self-assessment of the animal health services using the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) Performance of Veterinary Services (PVS) evaluation tool have illuminated critical areas requiring enhancement in the veterinary services. This insight is integral in strengthening national capacities to prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats, including rabies, emerging from the human-animal-environment interfaces.

Additionally, Ethiopia has undertaken a comprehensive assessment of its rabies elimination progress status using the Stepwise Approach for Rabies Elimination (SARE), identifying key areas for intervention.

Progress Towards Rabies Elimination

Notably, Ethiopia has made significant strides towards rabies elimination. The successful nationwide pilot dog vaccination and community awareness campaigns, which have vaccinated over 357 617 dogs since October 2021, mark pivotal steps toward achieving rabies elimination.

The partnership of FAO’s Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) with government agencies and prospective collaborators has been instrumental in achieving these milestones. Extensive training provided to healthcare professionals and experts in rabies laboratories has significantly fortified Ethiopia's laboratory-based surveillance capacity. This improvement enhances the nation's capability to promptly identify and respond to rabies, particularly in cases involving dog bite victims (IBCM).

World Rabies Day Celebration Objectives

The World Rabies Day celebration in Ethiopia aims to bring together a diverse range of stakeholders from public, animal, and environmental health sectors, higher officials, media organizations, One Health leaders, academia, the private sector, and NGOs.

At the opening speech, the state minister for the Ministry of Agriculture Dr. Fikru Regassa highlighted the rabies elimination efforts so far and reaffirmed commitment to a rabies-free Ethiopia. In the words of FAO representative in Ethiopia, Farayi Zimudzi emphasized, “collaborative efforts can make a difference to amplify the control and elimination of dog-mediated Rabies, to achieve our shared goal of “zero human death by dog-mediated Rabies in 2030” in Ethiopia and reaffirmed the commitment to a rabies-free Ethiopia”.

More on the role of FAO in the fight against rabies: FAO has been supporting the annual World Rabies Day celebration including 2023 often linked with community awareness creation, advocacy and launch of Rabies vaccination campaigns in pilot towns such as Arba Minch town, Hosana, Hawasa, Bonga towns. In 2022, FAO supported a consultative workshop on private sector engagement and potential application of Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme on Rabies control and elimination activities in Addis Ababa. Moreover, FAO facilitated the second SARE evaluation process in 2023 to assess the progress status of Rabies control and elimination in Ethiopia and developed a work plan for pending activities with a timeframe and estimated budget required for the implementation of the work plan to reach “zero by 2030”.

Zero by 30

For further information, please contact:

Meseret Abiy Workneh

FAO Ethiopia

National Communications Specialist

Email: [email protected]

Yanira Santana

Emergency Reporting and Outreach

FAO ECTAD Africa

Email: [email protected]