World Zoonoses Day: Australia in global effort to eliminate rabies

Today is World Zoonoses Day, and Australia is focused on the global fight against rabies, through regional support for Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and the Pacific.

Zoonoses are diseases that can jump from animals to humans like rabies, Ebola, avian influenza and COVID-19. Every year at least 59,000 people die from dog-mediated rabies globally—with over 96% of human cases caused by dog bite of a rabies virus-infected dog.

Australian Chief Veterinary Officer, Dr Mark Schipp, said Australia is rabies-free, and is working with neighbouring countries to increase rabies preparedness, surveillance, diagnostic testing, and response initiatives.

“Rabies has recently emerged in parts of West Timor just to Australia’s north. The Department is working closely with neighbouring Timor-Leste—which is currently free of rabies—to help keep the disease out,” Dr Schipp said.

“Earlier this year, quarantine officers from Timor-Leste participated in a train-the-trainer program at Australia’s Biosecurity Training Centre. The training enhanced their skills to prevent diseases such as rabies entering their country—and to be prepared should any disease incursion occur.”

Australia is also providing Timor-Leste support for community awareness of rabies and has provided support for a dedicated cool room for the storage of emergency animal disease vaccines.

The Department is also providing more than $1.2m over four years to fund a Regional Rabies Control initiative, with a focus on supporting the Government of Indonesia to implement a rabies vaccination campaign for dogs on the island of Bali.

The Department works closely with key partners including the World Organisation for Animal Health to provide canine rabies vaccines, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Centre for Health Security and the Australia-Indonesia Health Security partnership in support of the Indonesian government.

“This project is focused on supporting Bali given increased outbreaks of the disease there and to help our friend, Indonesia, in their goal to eliminate dog-mediated human rabies in country by 2030,” said Dr Schipp.

“To date, the project has administered 200,000 doses of dog rabies vaccine, from the World Organisation for Animal Health vaccine bank, in key districts across Bali.”

The Department’s Pacific Engagement Program for Animal Health is also working closely with our partners in Pacific countries to help them retain their rabies-free status.

All these efforts support the Quadripartite mission – being the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, United Nations Environment Programme, World Health Organization and World Organisation for Animal Health, to eliminate dog-transmitted rabies globally by 2030.

“Rabies poses a threat for many countries in our region and of course to Australia. World Zoonoses Day is a timely reminder, that everybody can play a part in helping keep Australia free of rabies by following our biosecurity rules,” Dr Schipp said.