Anti-rabies program a failure – lawmaker

QUEZON City Fourth District Rep. Marvin Rillo sought a congressional investigation into the “unsuccessful” National Rabies Prevention and Control Program (NRPCP), which was created by legislation 15 years ago.

“The NRPCP has missed its targets to eliminate human rabies by 2020 and to declare the Philippines rabies-free by 2022, despite ample funding of between P500 million and P900 million every year,” Rillo said.

“We want the NRPCP’s failure investigated with a view to recommending stronger corrective measures to finally eliminate human deaths from rabies,” he added.

The lawmaker said that based on records of the Department of Health (DoH), 322 Filipinos died of rabies from January 1 to November 5 this year, compared to 235 during the same period in 2021.

Rillo filed House Resolution 462 calling on the House Committee on Health to investigate the NRPCP.

The NRPCP was created by the Anti-Rabies Law of 2007 to encourage responsible pet ownership and control, prevent the spread, and eventually eradicate rabies in humans and animals.

Rabies is a viral disease transmittable from animals to humans that can be prevented by vaccination. It is primarily spread by animal bites.

According to DoH records, the majority of rabies cases are caused by unvaccinated dogs, and the case fatality rate is 100 percent.

The World Health Organization describes rabies as a condition that is “nearly 100 percent lethal” once clinical symptoms start to manifest in people.

The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) paid P180 million in Animal Bite Treatment Package (ABTP) claims in 2021, up 22 percent from the P148 million paid in 2020 due to the increase in dog bites.