Windhoek, Namibia
Medical Professionals of the NCA in Namibia trained on Rabies Prevention and Control
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In Namibia, dog-mediated rabies is endemic in the Northern Communal Areas (NCA), and the government of Namibia is implementing a rabies control programme, aiming to eliminate dog-mediated human rabies deaths by 2030. With financial and technical support from the German Government and WOAH, a dog rabies elimination programme was launched in the Oshana region in 2016 and expanded to all eight NCA regions in 2017, achieving significant milestones despite challenges. Human rabies deaths have reduced from 23 in 2015 to 3 in 2024. Currently, the “One Health approach towards rabies and transboundary animal diseases” Project (OHRT) funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and administered by WOAH is under implementation. Besides this external funding support, the Government of Namibia is contributing a substantial cost (around 70% of the programme) towards rabies elimination efforts.
Several activities such as stakeholder and community engagement, capacity building, awareness education, rabies laboratory twinning activities, rabies surveillance, and vaccination campaigns, including data management are being implemented in the NCA.
Mobile app data management Picture (c) Tenzin (woah) 2024. Gestion des données par application mobile. Photo (c) T. Tenzin (omsa) 2024.
This year, a successful mass dog rabies vaccination campaign was conducted in Namibia’s Northern Communal Area (NCA) during the June-July 2024 school holidays. A total of 85 vaccination teams, consisting of 249 vaccinators, covered 2,262 vaccination points, vaccinating 68,975 dogs and 5,918 cats. This campaign was followed by further rabies vaccinations for dogs at cattle crush pens, integrated with CBPP and FMD vaccination programmes. By 30 September, a total of 139,720 dogs and 9,391 cats were vaccinated against rabies, which included oral rabies vaccination (ORV) of 9,393 dogs in the Zambezi region, achieving an overall vaccination coverage of 58.6%, with 15 out of 75 constituencies reaching over 70% vaccination coverage and 14 constituencies achieving between 50 and 70% coverage. This represents a significant 39.1% improvement in the number of pets vaccinated against rabies compared to the previous years and is expected to break the transmission chain of rabies virus among dogs and from dogs to humans. Children played a vital role, in bringing dogs to vaccination points, which in turn increased participation and vaccination coverage. Application of digital technologies – mobile apps – enhanced tracking of rabies vaccination data and analysis, allowing for the visualisation of vaccination points on a map and for deciding to direct teams into uncovered areas to increase vaccination coverage.
Rabies surveillance improved, with a decline in reported animal cases. The rabies incidence in dogs has reduced in the NCA with more than 100 positive cases in 2012 to 17 in 2024 and a positivity rate of 42% (17/40) in 2024.
Human rabies deaths dropped significantly from 23 in 2015 to 3 in 2024 which is a significant achievement.
The locations of vaccinated dogs (orange dots) and cats (blue dots) in the 8 Northern Communal Areas (NCA) of Namibia (grey shaded). Picture (c) Tenzin (woah) 2024. Localisations des chiens (points orange) et des chats (points bleus) vaccinés dans les 8 zones communautaires du nord (NCA) de la Namibie (en gris). Photo (c) Tenzin (omsa) 2024.
Rabies education given to the dog owners at the vaccination points. Picture (c) T. Tenzin (woah) 2024 Éducation à la rage dispensée aux propriétaires de chiens aux postes de vaccination. Photo (c) T. Tenzin (omsa) 2024
Additionally, numerous rabies educational and awareness programmes were conducted in schools and communities within the NCA which improved community awareness and knowledge of rabies over the years. Loud hailers were used to increase awareness on rabies and vaccination during village visits and facilitate the success of the vaccination campaign.
However, some of the challenges included dispersed settlements and huge areas, logistic complexities, limited human resources to form enough vaccination teams, and high dog population turnover.
2024 dog rabies vaccination coverage by constituencies in the NCA, Namibia (red: 0-30% coverage, orange: 30-50%, yellow: 50-70% and green: 70-100%). Picture (c) T. Tenzin (woah) 2024. Couverture vaccinale contre la rage canine en 2024 par circonscription dans la NCA, Namibie (rouge : 0-30% de couverture, orange : 30-50%, jaune : 50-70% et vert : 70-100%). Photo (c) T. Tenzin (omsa) 2024.
Despite these challenges, Namibia’s political commitment and the power of the One Health approach led to a significant reduction in human rabies cases, showcasing the impact of dedicated efforts. Namibia’s success serves as a shining example in the ongoing fight against dog-mediated rabies to achieve the global goal of Zero by 30.
