![]() The financial burdens for bite victims, for example, include direct travel costs, as a number of trips to a healthcare facility are needed to complete the post-exposure prophylaxis schedule, and also the loss of income that can result from exposure. ![]() Many activities were implemented under the One Health approach, both nationally and also in cooperation with neighbouring countries like Angola.Ĭommitments from both the private and public sectors enabled Namibia to work towards the global goal of zero dog-mediated rabies cases by 2030, increasing awareness among communities and improving accessibility to post-exposure prophylaxis, especially in children and poor communities, given that rabies has devastating impacts not only on health but also on livelihoods. Representatives from various sectors, such as human and animal health, education, environment and academia, took part in the formulation of Namibia’s strategy. The relevant authorities identified the need for collaboration between sectors and completely changed their approach to rabies control, by improving coordination and collaboration as well as communication at the human-animal-environment interface. In 2015, to do just that, and in an attempt to address the increasing number of rabies cases, Namibia started to implement a One Health approach. To make elimination of rabies possible, therefore, different sectors have to collaborate and work together. ![]() Rabies is a prime example of a disease at the animal-human-environment interface: cases in dogs, humans and livestock are directly correlated. “My vision is of a Namibia free from dog-mediated rabies, saving human lives and saving the livelihoods of farmers who also suffer as a result of mass livestock losses due to rabies.” – Dr Rauna Athingo, Chief Veterinarian for Animal Disease Control in the Directorate of Veterinary services, Namibia. Dr Athingo was part of a driving force in developing Namibia’s National Rabies Control Strategy, which provides guidance to all veterinarians and public health professionals in how to deal with rabies cases. At that time, she remembers, the Directorate of Veterinary Services did not have a strategy on how to handle rabies cases, and this made their work very difficult. She was able to observe how vulnerable children were being exposed to rabid dogs and puppies in particular. In 2006, Dr Rauna Athingo started working as a state veterinarian, responsible for disease control in the Oshana region – one of the regions in the north of the country where rabies is inflicting a particularly heavy burden. ![]() The northern part of Namibia in particular has been identified as a rabies hotspot, and many rabies cases, both in humans and animals (dogs and livestock especially), have occurred there in the last years. ![]()
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