Harnessing the engagement of veterinary services with private sector for collective action against dog-mediated rabies in Africa

Description

World Rabies Day (WRD) is observed every year on September 28th to raise awareness on rabies prevention, and to increase global advocacy towards elimination of dog-mediated rabies by the year 2030.  

This year (2025), the WRD will be commemorated on the theme of “Act Now: You, me, Community.” This theme is built around three pillars including, taking individual action for rabies prevention, championing support for rabies elimination within communities and working collectively towards stronger programs for rabies elimination.  

In line with this annual WRD theme, the Africa regional representation is organising a webinar titled, “Harnessing the engagement of Veterinary Services with Private Sector for collective action against dog-mediated Rabies in Africa.” This webinar will aim to promote stronger engagement Public-Private sectors as well as partnerships, given that rabies still remains a significant health threat to both humans and animals in Africa.  

Public-private engagement and/or partnerships (PPPs) can play a critical role in rabies control and elimination by combining the strengths, resources, and reach of governments, NGOs, academia, private industry, and communities. WOAH actively champions public-private engagement and partnerships in the veterinary domain and defines PPPs as a joint approach in which the public and private sectors agree on responsibilities and share resources and risks to achieve common objectives. Furthermore, WOAH promotes PPPs as a means to strengthen the capacity of Veterinary Services and upscale implementation of large-scale interventions, such as vaccination campaigns at various levels. WOAH is committed to support countries in implementing PPPs, through targeted PVS support for PPPs, development of a dedicated handbook of PPP guidelines, online courses and an open-access database on PPPs.  

The value of PPPs remains under-exploited in many countries in Africa, which continues to undermine veterinary efforts to tackle major challenges such as the attainment of “Zero by 30″ global target for elimination of dog-mediated rabies. Current efforts against rabies remain fragmented in many countries in Africa, with private sector often acting independently from governments. While private veterinarians and para-veterinarians, as well as non-governmental organizations and community-based organisations often contribute significantly to dog vaccination, dog population management (e.g. through spaying-neutering), as well as community awareness campaigns, these efforts are often uncoordinated with government, and hence opportunities for collective action and synergy are missed.  

This webinar will therefore target veterinary actors on rabies elimination in Africa including Member countries, NGOs, Veterinary Associations, vaccine companies and other key stakeholders. It will aim to demonstrate and promote the benefits public and private sector engagements to:  

• Promote the establishment of formal partnerships between public and private sectors in line with national mechanisms for One Health implementation. 
• Leverage resources for rabies elimination including funding, vaccines, technology, and logistics for use by both public and private stakeholders. 
• Coordinate the aggregation and reporting of rabies vaccination and surveillance data from public and private sector.
• Synergise the capacity development and training of veterinary workforce for rabies control efforts.
• Improve access of rabies vaccines and post-exposure prophylaxis in remote areas.
• Upscale risk communication and community engagement on rabies elimination – using harmonised messaging and joint tools for advocacy .