Around 95% of human rabies infections are caused by dog bites, making the vaccination of dogs critical to Sri Lanka’s efforts to eliminate rabies, according to the Association of Veterinarians for Humane Management of Animal Population (AVHMAP).
Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (4), AVHMAP Convener Dr Chamith Nanayakkara said that continuing to vaccinate people only after they were bitten by dogs would not eliminate rabies, as the virus would continue to circulate within the dog population.
He said Sri Lanka needed to focus on eliminating the rabies virus among dogs if it was to achieve the global target of eliminating rabies by 2030.
“If we can remove the rabies virus from dogs, we can solve this problem. Otherwise, the virus will remain, dogs will continue to bite people, and we will continue giving injections to people after they are bitten. That is the method we have followed all these years,” he said.
Dr Nanayakkara said veterinarians should be given responsibility for the animal rabies component of the programme, including dog vaccination, as they were trained to treat and vaccinate animals.
He said the newly introduced Rabies Elimination and Dog Registration Bill provides for dog vaccination to be carried out by a veterinary surgeon or another person under the supervision of a veterinary surgeon.
According to Dr Nanayakkara, the new law is expected to come into effect in 2027, following a plan prepared over the past one-and-a-half years in line with international guidelines.
He said Sri Lanka had 337 veterinary offices and around 600 Government veterinarians, while more than 1,000 veterinarians were in active service across the Government and private sectors.
“There is no shortage of veterinarians. There is a shortage of around 20 veterinarians in the Government sector, but we are already working with the private sector to fill this gap,” he said.
Where a Government veterinary surgeon is not available, he said, a local authority could hire a private-sector veterinary surgeon on a contract basis.
The three-year programme would also involve the sterilisation of dogs to control the dog population, with private-sector veterinarians expected to assist with vaccination and sterilisation, he said.
Dr Nanayakkara said owned dogs should be registered and vaccinated, while local authorities should be responsible for unowned dogs.
Training of vaccinators has already begun, with 50 vaccinators trained in the North Central Province, he said. The initial target is to train 100 vaccinators, while around 1,000 would eventually be required for the programme.
He said around 250 vaccinators currently working under the Health Ministry could also join the programme if they wished, while personnel of the Department of Animal Production and Health (DAPH), who already vaccinate cattle, could also be trained to vaccinate dogs.
Efforts to contact the Secretary to the Health Ministry for further comment were unsuccessful at the time of going to press.