Data and facts from rabies vaccination campaigns.
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Highlights
Case Studies
Jump to: Malawi (Blantyre) 2015 Campaign | Sri Lanka (Negombo) 2016 Campaign | Tanzania (Southeastern) Campaign
Blantyre, Malawi, 2015 Campaign
External Link:
Gibson AD, Handel IG, Shervell K, Roux T, Mayer D, Muyila S, et al. (2016) The Vaccination of 35,000 Dogs in 20 Working Days Using Combined Static Point and Door-to-Door Methods in Blantyre, Malawi. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 10(7): e0004824.
https://doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pntd.0004824
Background
- Rabies mortality in Malawi: 3 per 100,000 people annually.
- Annual cost of rabies to Malawi: $13 million USD, including post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), lost income, productivity losses, dog vaccination and management, livestock losses, and surveillance.
- 2014 government campaign: 37% vaccination coverage using only static point vaccination.
Population Demographics
- Mean free-roaming dogs sighted per km²:
- Agriculture/Open Space: 5.6
- Housing Category 1 (High-density, small houses): 473.2
- Housing Category 2 (Medium-density, small houses): 234.9
- Housing Category 3 (Low-density, small houses): 12.9
- Housing Category 4 (Medium houses, ordered): 81.7
- Housing Category 5 (Low/medium-density, large houses): 11.0
- Industrial/Commercial: 3.6
- Dog ownership: 59% of households owned a dog, averaging 1.93 adult dogs per dog-owning household.
- Community average: 1.55 dogs per household.
Vaccination Results
- 20-day vaccination program: 35,216 dogs vaccinated.
- 23,442 dogs vaccinated at 44 static point stations.
- 11,774 dogs vaccinated by door-to-door teams.
- Post-vaccination data:
- Total dogs recorded: 46,065 (35,216 vaccinated).
- Already vaccinated at static points: 9,581.
- Dogs sighted but not vaccinated: 1,268.
- Door-to-door vaccination:
- 42.4% of dogs were previously vaccinated at static points.
- 90.3% of unvaccinated dogs could be restrained for vaccination.
- Reasons for not vaccinating: unable to restrain (54.5%), owner not present (30.5%), owner refused (8.2%), already vaccinated by a non-Mission Rabies source (5.3%), other (1.4%).
- 97.1% of dogs during door-to-door vaccination were identifiably owned.
- 56% of “unowned” dogs were marked from static point clinics, indicating prior presentation for vaccination.
- 38.6% of unmarked, unowned roaming dogs were caught and vaccinated.
- Vaccination coverage:
- Over 75% in three land types.
- Slightly below 75% in two land types (74.9% and 69.5%).
- Vaccinated dog demographics:
- 57% of vaccinated dogs were male.
- Puppy vaccination: 14.5% at static points vs. 26.7% door-to-door.
- Emaciated/underweight dogs: 10.4% sterilized vs. 22.8% entire.
Negombo, Sri Lanka, 2016 Campaign
External Link:
Sánchez-Soriano, C., Gibson, A.D., Gamble, L. et al. Development of a high number, high coverage dog rabies vaccination programme in Sri Lanka. BMC Infect Dis 19, 977 (2019).
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-019-4585-z
Background & Campaign Details
- 2014 Survey Data:
- Estimated dog vaccination coverage in Sri Lanka: 48%
- Campaign Setup:
- 146 static vaccination points (SP) set up daily in different areas of the city, from June 15th to September 1st.
- Door-to-door (D2D) vaccination stage: September 12th to 28th.
- Vaccination Results:
- Total dogs vaccinated: 7804
- Dogs vaccinated at SPs: 4382
- Dogs seen during D2D campaign: 5177
- Previously vaccinated during SP campaign: 1019 (19.7%)
- Average vaccination coverage across 24 surveyed wards: 75.8%
- Total dogs vaccinated: 7804
Dog Demographics
- Vaccination Status (D2D Campaign):
- Previously vaccinated: 31.6%
- Unvaccinated: 68.3%
- Vaccination Status (SP Campaign):
- Never vaccinated or vaccine overdue: 1961 (44.8%)
- Already vaccinated: 2421 (55.2%)
- Immunized at Dogstar clinic: 251 (10.4%)
- Immunized by municipal veterinarian: 2059 (85.6%)
- Immunized by private veterinarian: 89 (3.7%)
- Confinement Status:
- Free-roaming: 37%
- Chained or leashed: 39.5%
- Confined in a kennel or inside a household: 18.7%
- Neutering Status:
- Neutered dogs (D2D campaign): 1377 (26.6%)
- Owner interest in sterilization:
- Interested in neutering: 23.7%
- Not interested in neutering: 69.4%
Reasons for Not Bringing Dogs to Static Points (by Dog Owners)
- Unaware of the campaign: 37.9%
- Unavailable: 29.3%
- Couldn’t handle the dog: 10.2%
- Dog is stray/semi-owned: 5.3%
- Dog too young for vaccination: 5.3%
- Distance too great: 4.5%
- No answer: 2.9%
- Other: 1.9%
- Procedure is unnecessary: 1.6%
- Procedure is harmful: 0.5%
- Dog previously vaccinated: 0.5%
- Dog under private vet care: 0.2%
Reasons Against Sterilization (by Dog Owners)
- Procedure is unnecessary: 42.6%
- No answer: 32.5%
- Plan to breed the dog: 13.4%
- Procedure is sinful: 5.2%
- Will change the dog’s behavior: 4.6%
- Dog should be able to mate: 0.7%
- Procedure is inconvenient/time loss: 0.5%
Southeastern Tanzania, 2010-2017 Campaign
External Link:
Sambo M, Ferguson EA, Abela-Ridder B, Changalucha J, Cleaveland S, Lushasi K, et al. (2022) Scaling-up the delivery of dog vaccination campaigns against rabies in Tanzania. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 16(2): e0010124.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010124
Campaign Background
- Cost of PEP: In rural Tanzania, where most people live on less than $1.25 per day, accessing and completing the WHO-recommended post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for rabies costs over $100.
- Rabies burden: Rabies is endemic in Tanzania, causing an estimated 552 human deaths annually, with 98% of cases linked to rabid domestic dogs.
Mass Dog Vaccination Campaign Results
- Number of dogs vaccinated: Between 2010 and 2017, 349,513 dogs were vaccinated across 2,066 vaccination units, generating data from 8,959 units over the study period.
- Completeness of campaign: Initially, only 3 out of 25 districts achieved full coverage in their vaccination units, but by the fifth round, 7 districts had reached 100% coverage in all units.
- Coverage of campaign:
- During rounds 3 to 5, only 19–21% of vaccination units met the recommended 70% coverage.
- In the final three rounds, district-level coverage ranged from 31% in Masasi Township to 83% in Rufiji, with only one district consistently achieving the 70% coverage target.
- The analysis indicated that annual vaccination campaigns need at least 66% coverage to prevent a drop below 30% before the next campaign.
- Monitoring efforts: From 2013 to 2017, 3,777 post-vaccination transects were conducted in 1,322 (64%) of the vaccination units, with 38.1% of these transects counting fewer than five dogs, and 13.7% observing no dogs at all.
Barriers
Jump to: Blantyre, Malawi, 2015 Campaign Barriers
Blantyre, Malawi, 2015 Campaign Barriers
Mazeri S, Gibson AD, Meunier N, Bronsvoort BM, Handel IG, Mellanby RJ, et al. (2018) Barriers of attendance to dog rabies static point vaccination clinics in Blantyre, Malawi. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 12(1): e0006159. (Source)
Campaign Background
- In the 2015 vaccination program, 79% of dogs were vaccinated, with 53% vaccinated at static points (SPs) and 26% via door-to-door campaigns.
Identified Barriers
- Distance and Attendance:
- Dog owners were willing to travel an average of 1.22 km to an SP, with 75% walking up to 1.5 km.
- The mean straight-line distance was 0.812 km, with an upper quartile of 1.016 km.
- Dog Characteristics and Attendance:
- Puppies and pregnant or lactating dogs were less likely to be brought to SPs.
- Healthy or neutered dogs had higher odds of being taken to SPs.
- Dogs that never roamed were less likely to attend SPs, while those roaming daily but restrained part-time were more likely to attend.
- Socio-Economic Factors:
- High poverty levels and high or medium housing density were positive predictors of SP attendance.
- Increased poverty levels exacerbated the decline in attendance with increasing distance.
- Reasons for Not Attending SPs:
- Unaware of the campaign: 27.4%
- Unavailable to attend: 23.9%
- Difficulty handling dogs: 18.9%
- Distance to SP: 16.8%
- Too young: 8.6%
- Other reasons: 3.4%
- Perceived as harmful: 0.6%
- Considered unnecessary: 0.5%
- Awareness and Distance:
- People unaware of the SP campaign were located farther from SPs compared to those who cited other reasons for non-attendance.