Africa Rabies Webinar 2020: Updates on rabies elimination efforts in Africa region

To commemorate this year’s World Rabies Day, the African Representatives of the “Tripartite” Partners (FAO-OIE-WHO), along with the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) and its Sub-Saharan Africa network (Pan-African Rabies Control Network, PaRaCoN) organised a two day webinar for the Africa region on the 23 and 24 September 2020. The webinar session was conducted subsequently both in English and in French.

The main objectives of the webinar were:

To share updates from the Regional Tripartite (FAO/OIE /WHO) and GARC as well as other key partners on the progress towards the global goal of zero human deaths due to dog-mediated rabies by 2030 (“Zero by 30”);
To share countries’ success stories on mass dog vaccination campaigns, the challenges and the constraints they face;
To provide updates from OIE Reference Laboratories and Tripartite collaborating centres on rabies diagnostics and surveillance;

To share tools available for the planning and implementation of rabies elimination programmes, including the recently adopted OIE procedure for the endorsement of official dog-mediated rabies control programmes and strategies;
To identify gaps and opportunities for future interventions in support of the design and implementation of national strategic plans in African Member countries.

The webinars consisted of a series of presentations by experts from the Tripartite and partners to share updates, progress, tools, diagnostic and surveillance tools as well as success stories, and also progress and experiences from Member countries.

On day one, the English session was attended by 168 participants while the French session was attended by 95 participants from African countries and from around the world. The theme of day-one was Updates on progress and challenges of mass dog vaccination campaigns and rabies surveillance in Africa.

On day two, the English session was attended by 120 participants while the French session was attended by 90 participants. The theme of day-two was Updates of global and regional initiatives and available tools for planning rabies elimination programmes.

The programme, over the two days and in the two languages, included country testimonies from Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Madagascar, Namibia, Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania and Tunisia.

Download the presentations here (English):

Introduction slides

PDF - 1.10MB

Focal points

Regional Commission

Regional Representation for Africa

Representation for Southern Africa

Representation for North Africa

Representation for Eastern Africa

Animal diseases

Animal Health

Veterinary services

Regional activities

Expertise network

The main objectives of the webinar were:

Download the presentations here (English):

Introduction slides

Sharing experiences of a successful mass dog vaccination campaign : Kenya (Matthew Muturi)

Sharing experiences of a successful mass dog vaccination campaign : Namibia (Rauna Athingo)

Sharing experiences of a successful mass dog vaccination campaign : Nigeria (Ihekerenma Okoli)

Sharing experiences of a successful mass dog vaccination campaign : Sudan (Alsayed Merghani)

Experiences of using oral rabies vaccines (ORV) in dogs (Ad Vos)

Engagement of international / national NGOs and partners towards rabies elimination programme in Africa : World Animal Protection (Tennyson Williams)

Rabies diagnostic techniques / methods, case management and surveillance in people (Reeta Mani)

Rabies diagnostic techniques / methods and surveillance in animals. (Claude Sabeta)

OIE twinning for rabies diagnostic capacity and surveillance in Africa (Conrad Freuling)

New OIE’s Standards to support global elimination of dog-mediated rabies by 2030 (Gregorio Torres)

UAR Initiatives and Progress so far in the implementation of the Global Strategic Plan (zero by 30). (Rachel Tidman)

Update on FAO involvement on rabies elimination programme in Africa (Charles Bebay)

Update on WHO involvement on rabies elimination programme in Africa (Lamine Diawara)

How to design an effective mass dog vaccination campaign using Vax-PLAN/Rabies Econ tool/GDREP tools (Ryan Wallace)

Tools and resources that support the implementation of mass dog vaccination campaigns (Andre Coetzer)

How One Health and Integrated Bite Case Management (IBCM) approaches improve rabies case detection and response : country experiences - Tanzania (Kennedy Lushasi)

World Rabies Day 2020: Continuing rabies awareness during the COVID-19 pandemic (Terence Scott)

Rabies ends here: OIE communication campaign (Aziza Bencherifa)

View the recordings of the English language webinar :

The webinar was organised and supported by:

More information:

World Rabies Day in Africa : a joint FAO, OIE, WHO and GARC message (2020)

United Against Rabies: One Health in Action, Partnering for Success

Programme