FAO/OIE/WHO Tripartite Collaboration marks the World Rabies Day in Russia

Moscow offices of the Tripartite Plus Alliance¹ – World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) joined forces with Russian government agencies responsible for public and animal health, and environment protection, to mark the World Rabies Day in Moscow.

The virtual event, first of its kind, featured high-level speakers from the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor), and Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) as well as the experts from the Sechenov University, FGBI “ARRIAH”, and WWF. Renowned experts in public and animal health and environment issues presented recent scientific discoveries and practical solutions for the prevention and eradication of rabies. The target of the conference was to raise awareness of the problem and secure the commitment of major players to strengthen multilateral and interinstitutional cooperation to reach zero human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030 in Russia.

The event was moderated by Dr Marina Sokolova from OIE. “Despite advances in medicine, zoonoses are still a major threat to global health and cause millions of deaths and colossal economic losses. Preparing for possible pandemics such as COVID-19 and controlling zoonoses requires coordinated international action and solidarity of all countries”, Dr Sokolova said in her opening remarks.

“Over the past 15 years, the situation on rabies in Russia has drastically improved. The number of cases has decreased over four-fold. We believe that such results have been achieved thanks to the strategy implemented by the Russian Federation and the countries bordering the Russian Federation”, declared Dr Maria Novikova, Director of the Veterinary Department from the Russian Ministry of Agriculture.

Dr Nikita Lebedev, Advisor to Head of Rosselkhoznadzor, highlighted that “the work on the elimination of rabies is carried out in three areas: elimination of hotspots in the wild, responsible care for pets and their vaccination, as well as work with medical personnel, and sanitary and preventive work”.

“We need to ensure that every person exposed to an animal bite is treated according to a prescribed and strictly followed procedure comprising primary wound treatment, delivery to a medical institution and administering of defined post-exposure vaccine. Close collaboration of veterinary and health experts, between public, private and clinical health services at all levels is needed to assure that all medical practitioners are fully aware of the available immunoprofylaxis. Every life counts – we cannot leave anyone behind – rabies is 100 percent preventable if the vaccine is promptly and timely applied. Every person’s and every health professional’s awareness counts”, insisted Dr Melita Vujnović, WHO Representative in the Russian Federation.

Dr Budimir Plavsić, Head of the OIE Regional Representation in Moscow, underscored the key message of the day: we all want to be united against rabies and to send this horrible disease into the past: that is achievable, that is not difficult, and that is not expensive. “From scientific data, international standards, and best practice in many countries we know how to do it, effective tools are available as well as services to use these tools. From a veterinary point of view, there is medical prescription for control of this disease in both animal populations – domestic and wild animals”, he added. “I truly believe that all of us, by implementing “One Health” approach from strategic to operational levels, could contribute to the elimination of rabies in the Russian Federation. It will be a model and an example of best practice to other countries in the region and worldwide,” Dr Plavsić concluded.

Mr Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the FAO Liaison Office in Russia, stressed that annual economic losses from rabies on a planetary scale exceed USD 500 million, and rural folk suffer the most from this preventable disease. In this regard, FAO supports vaccination campaigns and community-based disease prevention and eradication programmes under the “One World, One Health” concept with OIE and WHO, he intoned. Mr Kobiakov insisted that Russian experience can be successfully applied in the countries of the Eurasian Region and beyond and called on Russian partner agencies to enhance their contribution to the Tripartite effort aimed at eliminating rabies from the face of the Earth.

The virtual conference was attended by over 30 experts, students of flagship Skryabin Veterinary Academy and health practitioners from Russia’s regions.

For reference:

According to the World Health Organization, rabies kills approximately 60,000 people worldwide every year.

Since 2015 WHO, OIE, FAO, and the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) have been implementing a Global Strategic Plan to end human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030. The plan is based on the One Health approach recognizing the interconnections between human, animal, and environmental health. The partnership, “United Against Rabies Collaboration”, leverages existing infrastructure, measures and expertise of human, veterinary and wildlife health institutions in a coordinated way to empower, engage and enable countries to save human lives from this preventable disease. As animal bites cause almost all human cases, rabies deaths can be prevented by increasing awareness and knowledge, vaccinating animals to prevent the disease at its source and administering life-saving treatment after people have been bitten by rabid dogs or other animals.

¹ Cooperation mechanism between FAO, OIE and WHO which promotes a cross-sectoral “One Health” approach to address risks from zoonoses and other threats existing and emerging at the human-animal-ecosystems interface