Stronger Together: A One Health Pathway to a Rabies-Free Future

Rabies is a disease that reminds us of a fundamental truth: human health cannot be separated from animal health or the environment in which we live. A seemingly ordinary encounter with an infected dog can become a life-threatening emergency. Once the clinical signs of rabies appear, the disease is almost invariably fatal. Yet almost every human death from dog-mediated rabies is preventable. The global burden remains substantial. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that rabies causes approximately 59,000 human deaths every year, with more than 95 percent of deaths occurring in Africa and Asia. Dogs are responsible for up to 99 percent of human rabies transmission, and children and underserved communities bear a disproportionate burden. Importantly, these estimates are subject to uncertainty because rabies is substantially underreported and underdiagnosed in many endemic regions. [1–4]