Protecting People in Haiti from Deadly Rabies
A trained rabies vaccinator logs a vaccinated dog on her cell phone using a rabies tracking app co-developed with Mission Rabies.
Haiti has the highest rate of human rabies in the Western Hemisphere, and street dogs with rabies are a major problem. Every week on average, two people in Haiti die of rabies—usually because they did not receive proper treatment after a dog bite. To control rabies in Haiti, NCEZID focuses on strengthening surveillance, vaccinating dogs, and providing better treatment to people after dog bites. As a result, Haiti now has nearly 100 animal health professionals monitoring rabies, and more than 110,000 dogs have been vaccinated. The program increased animal rabies detection 18-fold, decreased the risk of dying from rabies by 49%, and increased post-bite rabies vaccination by 230%.