Japan-DOH partnership to help eliminate rabies in Phl

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) partnered with the Department of Health (DOH) for a prevention and treatment network model that could help eliminate rabies in the Philippines by 2020.

The project Establishment of One Health Prevention and Treatment Model for Elimination of Rabies is being piloted in Bulacan, which has the highest case of rabies in the country.

According to the Bulacan provincial veterinary office, the province had the ninth highest record of animal bites cases among all provinces in 2018.

Under the project, JICA and DOH will come up with easy to use and cheaper diagnostic kits for rabies (like pregnancy test kits) and a data sharing system to easily identify statistics on rabies cases and needed interventions.

“Japan has been rabies-free since the 1950s made possible when we strictly implemented the anti-rabies law and held mass vaccinations of pets. Through this project, we are sharing our approach in eliminating rabies in Japan so the Philippines will effectively eradicate this disease,” said Japanese expert Dr. Nobuo Saito from Japan’s Oita University.

Oita University and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Animal Industry (DA-BAI), and the local health office of Bulacan Province are partners in the project.

The project is under JICA’s Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development or SATREPS where Japanese institutions and partner countries work together to solve social problems.

Rabies is a vaccine-preventable disease and is mainly transmitted through bites and exposure from the saliva of infected animals. In most countries, including the Philippines, more than 97 percent of rabies cases are from dogs. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 59,000 people die from rabies worldwide each year.

The Philippines is one of the top countries with high cases of rabies diseases, with 200 human deaths from rabies every year.

Filipinos are known for being dog-lovers and that’s why there’s strong need to emphasize responsible pet ownership and mass vaccination to control rabies,” Salto said.