World Rabies Day is celebrated on September 28 annually. It is celebrated to raise awareness about rabies prevention and highlight progress in controlling this severe and highly fatal disease. September 28 marks the anniversary of the death of Louis Pasteur, who developed the first rabies vaccine. The theme of this year’s World Rabies Day is “Breaking rabies boundaries.” it highlights the need to go beyond the norm and break boundaries in the elimination of human rabies, which is particularly transmitted by dogs. There are marked disparities in the elimination efforts of rabies globally! Asia and Africa are disproportionately affected by human rabies, which are mainly transmitted by dogs.
We at the ISID are at the forefront of the One Health initiative, which is key in preventing and controlling rabies. We advocate for a One Health approach for all and not only for vets, public health experts, and environmental experts. The latest offering in our publications, the International Journal of Infectious Diseases- One Health (IJID-OH), is dedicated to showcasing innovation and raising awareness of rabies and other zoonotic infections. Our flagship surveillance platform, Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED), is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID) and is staffed by a multidisciplinary global team of ISID Staff and over 50 subject matter experts reporting from 34 countries on a variety of topic specialties including human, animal and plant health. ProMED has been reporting on surveillance in the One Health space even before it became popular- there are various surveillance reports and posts globally on rabies and other zoonotic infections.