Monrovia- In late May 2018, state actors representing the animal and human sectors through the “One Health” Approach, have developed for the first time an effective rabies tool that provides tangible and achievable steps for the control and prevention of dog-transmitted rabies for the next thirteen years.

Practical Work Plan towards Achieving Rabies Elimination (PWARE), a tool developed through the five-day deliberation at the Farmington Hotel in Margibi County from 28 May -1^st June 2018, was developed through the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) to transform information from the Stepwise Approach towards Rabies Elimination (SARE) into actionable items, highlighting pending activities and developing performance and detailed work plan on exactly how those pending activities can be accomplished. The Global goal is to end deaths due to canine-transmitted rabies by 2030. 

The exercise was a collaborative effort of the Government of Liberia, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC), Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC), World Health Organization (WHO) as well as World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

The new tool will provide the opportunity for knowledge sharing intended to equip government line ministries within the human and animal sectors with the requisite knowledge and skills to effectively disseminate accurate, life-saving information regarding rabies and its prevention in at-risk communities. 

Approximately sixty (60) participants drawn from the public health sector including the media were in full attendance during the meeting.  

The primary objective was to develop a multi-sectoral national work plan for stakeholders to support rabies control capacities; strengthen the results-based planning (collection, data management,); strengthen resource mobilization and financial sustainability to overcome transmitted rabies; advocate for the national ownership of the national integrated rabies elimination plan and improve monitoring, evaluation, surveillance and research on rabies prevention as well as control and elimination. The plan will support the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) against four action packages including zoonotic disease, biosecurity and biosafety, laboratory system, and workforce and capacity development. The GHSA program is an initiative implemented by FAO with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Rabies is transmitted between animals and humans (a zoonotic disease), usually via a bite of an infected (rabid) animal; although licks on open wound and scratches may also pose a risk to developing rabies.

While many mammals are capable of transmitting rabies, more than 99% of the 59,000 rabies death each year are the result of exposure to a rabid dog. (In-text citation)

In addition to the thousands of human deaths, millions of dogs die each year due to rabies and indiscriminate culling due to fear of rabies, an ineffective preventive measure. 

The one week sitting closed with positive remarks from international organizations and the government for timely organizing the workshop and the encouragement to implement and undertake those activities that were prioritized by the PWARE tool to drive their efforts of rabies elimination. (The meeting ended with a developed comprehensive work plan geared at addressing the elimination of canine-transmitted rabies by 2030).