Illustrative image. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The World Health Organisation (WHO) Representative Office in Vietnam, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO) in Vietnam, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC) on September 28 renewed their commitment to stand with other sectors and stakeholders towards the global elimination of human deaths from rabies transmitted from dogs by 2030.
They vowed to provide more technical support to the Government of Vietnam in a joint effort to end human deaths from dog-mediated rabies in the Southeast Asian country.
This year's theme, "One Health, Zero Deaths," leverages the concept of One Health, which is becoming increasingly entrenched in disease control programmes. However, as recent examples such as COVID-19 and antimicrobial resistance have shown the world, the health of people, animals, and the environment are all inextricably linked and interdependent.
In Vietnam, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and local administrations, with support from these international partners, have been working together to implement the National Programme on Rabies Prevention and Control. Reducing human deaths from dog-mediated rabies has been a critical goal and challenge for many countries in recent decades.
While some progress has been made over the past ten years, Vietnam has continued to report between 70 and 100 human deaths from rabies each year.
In the first eight months of 2022, Vietnam reported 40 human deaths. Despite a significant decrease in rabies deaths in some provinces, the number of deaths increased in 20 provinces between 2017 to 2021 as compared to 2011-2016. This highlights the need to adopt lessons learned and work closely with local administrations to ensure a decrease in deaths.
Acting WHO Representative in Vietnam, Dr Socorro Escalante, emphasised the need for strong commitment and the targeting of priority areas to eliminate deaths by 2030.
"Strengthening political commitment to ensure access, availability and affordability to proven interventions such as safe, effective and quality-assured vaccines, is critical to saving lives along with ensuring a One Health approach to eliminating rabies," Escalante said. "Strong coordination between animal, human health, and other sectors is vital to ensure prevention and control programmes are efficiently and effectively managed.
"There is increasing international and high-level political support for One Health as a sustainable solution to combat threats such as rabies," Dr Rémi Nono Womdim, FAO Representative in Vietnam, added. "Dog vaccination is the most cost-effective single intervention to protect humans from contracting rabies. By working together using the One Health approach to increase rabies vaccination coverage in animals to reach at least 70%, we can break the transmission of rabies to humans and accelerate the progress toward Zero by 30 goals".
"To improve the canine vaccination coverage, we need to ensure the availability, accessibility, and affordability of rabies vaccine," noted Dr Lindsay Kim, Global Health Security Program director, US CDC office in Vietnam. "Furthermore, strengthening rabies surveillance using the One Health approach and integrating it with the event-based surveillance program that is currently implemented and advocated by the Ministry of Health should also be focused to get closer to the 'Zero by 30' goal."
In recognition of World Rabies Day 2022, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Ben Tre provincial People's Committee, with support from FAO, WHO, US CDC, USAID and other organisations, plan to host a joint event and meeting in Ben Tre province on the same day to highlight shared commitment to the "Zero by 30" goal, review results of Vietnam's National Rabies Control Program, and discuss opportunities for supporting increased vaccination in dogs.
The Vietnam Government is committed to achieving the 2030 goal of eliminating human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by renewing the National Programme on the Control and Elimination of Rabies 2022 – 2030.
The WHO, FAO, and US CDC reaffirmed their continued support to the Government of Vietnam in developing essential policies and mechanisms to reduce deaths. They are encouraging the Government, particularly at the local level, to prioritise and increase resources for managing dog populations, vaccinating dogs, and providing post-exposure prophylaxis for those bitten by dogs./.
