Cost-effective Rabies control

Rabies is endemic in many countries and causes 60,000 deaths globally per year. The disease can be controlled by vaccination of dogs, in some cases, combined with culling of roaming dogs. Yet, in many places, regulated control is failing. Together with Indonesian counterparts, Wageningen University & Research researchers showed that control of rabies by mass dog vaccination can be cost-effective in reducing human rabies cases. Vaccination campaigns should be adjusted to the dog owners, for example, by planning vaccinations, when owners and dogs generally are at home. Effective and efficient control programmes of zoonoses are situation-specific.