Tripartite plus partners mark the 15th World Rabies Day
On September 28, marking the 15thanniversary of World Rabies Day, the OIE Regional Representation for Europe in Moscow hosted a webinar on rabies titled “The Global Anti-Rabies Efforts: Human and Animal Vaccines and Eradication Programs”. The event was jointly organized by the Tripartite Plus partners and members of One Health Mechanism in Europe: the OIE Regional Representation for Europe in Moscow in collaboration with offices of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Moscow.
It is the third consecutive year when a dedicated event about this deadly zoonotic disease is organized in Russia, in close cooperation with national health counterparts. More than 300 participants joined the webinar Zoom conference, and over 2000 people watched the webinar live on social media.
The event featured prominent European and Russian experts, representatives of the One Health constituent International organizations, — the OIE, FAO, WHO and UNEP, and high-level speakers from the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) and Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor).
The host of the event, Dr Budimir Plavsic, the OIE Regional Representative for Europe in Moscow, delivered a speech to underline the importance of a One Health approach through the prism of this year’s World Rabies Day theme: “Rabies: Facts, not Fear”.
“National governments, regional administrations together with official and private veterinary services, international organizations, research institutes, industry, and other stakeholders, should join global efforts to reach the goal of Zero Death in Humans caused by Rabies by 2030, - declared Dr Plavsic. - Considering the availability of safe and effective rabies vaccines for domestic animals and wildlife carnivores, and high level of scientific knowledge of the infection, we declare that complete rabies elimination is achievable”.
Acting Chairman of Moscow Tripartite Plus Mr. Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation, also marked the effectiveness and significance of the Tripartite Plus collaboration under the One Health concept in tackling zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial resistance issues. Mr. Oleg Kobiakov also noted the importance of public awareness campaigns and social advertisement for successful rabies elimination.
Dr Elkhan Gasimov, expert of the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, from the Division of Country Health Programmes, discussed importance of education for rabies elimination and presented WHO educational platform for rabies.
Mr Vladimir Moshkalo, Head of the UN Environment Programme in Russian Federation, insisted that environmental issues such as loss of biodiversity and habitats, climate change and environmental pollution aggravate the situation with dangerous zoonotic diseases, such as rabies.
Dr Konstantin Savenkov, the OIE Council Member, the OIE Delegate, Deputy Head of the Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor), informed of practical steps implemented in Russia to eradicate rabies and reach the goal of zero human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030, such as: increase of awareness, large scale implementation of oral immunization campaigns in wildlife and focus on best internationally recognized practices. Dr Savenkov also stressed the negative influence of COVID-19 pandemics resulting in rabies proliferation.
“Increase of awareness and informational campaigns remain the key measures to prevent human death from rabies in Russia. Only in 2021 five people died of rabies in Russia, and 85 per cent did not seek medical treatment after being bitten by a rabid animal”, stressed Dr Yulia Demina, Deputy Head of the Epidemiological Surveillance Department Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor).
A presentation about the history and modern developments for prophylaxis and treatment of rabies was delivered by Prof. Hervé Bourhy, Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Rabies in the Institut Pasteur (Paris, France). Prof. Bourhy provided a comprehensive overview of new approaches and products for prevention of human Rabies, such as production of novel heat-stable vaccines, subunit vaccines, adjuvants and blocking interaction between viral proteins.
Dr Florence Cliquet, Research Director of the Reference Laboratory for Rabies of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), shared her experience and knowledge about successful Rabies eradication programs in Europe, which brought a majority of EU countries close to Rabies elimination. In her presentation, Dr Cliquet gave valuable practical recommendations regarding oral vaccination and major setbacks encountered in Europe (see her interview about oral vaccination campaigns in Europe here.
A presentation “Stray Dog Control in Europe” was delivered by Dr Paolo Dalla Villa, Officer for Disaster Management and Animal Welfare, the OIE Sub-Regional Representation in Brussels. Dr Dalla Villa presented the OIE global and regional activities, framework and tools on stray dog control, such as the OIE Platform on Animal Welfare for Europe, the OIE Regional stray dog roadmaps, OIE Self-Assessment and Monitoring Tool and Terrestrial Animal Health Code chapter 7.7.
The experts’ interventions were followed by a Q&A session. The participants agreed that Russian Federation has taken bold and decisive steps to tackle rabies all across its territory. However, new comprehensive actions involving a large number of stakeholders need to be implemented in a systematic way to advance rabies elimination in the country. Experts also advocated for enhanced international, including trans-border, cooperation, and expressed readiness of One Health partners to continue interaction with their Russian colleagues to that end.
The webinar recording can be found here.