Acting Together for Global Rabies Elimination

Rabies remains an urgent public health issue, leading to thousands of human deaths every year, with the majority of cases occurring in Asia and Africa. While entirely preventable, the disease endures due to inadequate public awareness, insufficient vaccination of domestic and wild animals, and limited healthcare accessibility, among other factors. This Research Topic seeks to leverage insights from infectious disease epidemiology, public health education, and beyond to devise comprehensive prevention strategies and policies for the global elimination of rabies.Despite significant strides in rabies prevention, transmission of this disease continues, predominantly through dog bites. The true burden is likely far greater than official estimates suggest, as weak surveillance infrastructure, limited diagnostic capacity, and frequent misdiagnosis lead to underreporting in the highest-burden regions. Meanwhile, progress toward the WHO “Zero by 30” elimination target is stalled by persistent gaps in canine vaccination coverage (which routinely falls below the 70% threshold required for herd immunity), the cost of post-exposure prophylaxis for the rural communities most at risk, and fragmented One Health coordination across human, animal, and environmental health sectors. Addressing these intertwined challenges requires a comprehensive, multidisciplinary research approach that encompasses the full complexity of rabies epidemiology and its societal drivers.This Research Topic aims to collect a wide range of scholarly contributions offering fresh perspectives on rabies spread, prevention, and control. Our focus encompasses case studies of successful interventions, the role of technology in monitoring and vaccination, and community engagement strategies that can shape effective public health interventions, policies, and responses. We seek papers that address a wide range of themes, from epidemiology to education, and from policy frameworks to technological innovations. The objective of this Research Topic is to stimulate scholarly dialogue to enhance our response to rabies and achieve its eradication via actionable, evidence-based strategies across scales, from local and regional to international and global.Suitable themes for manuscripts include the following:1. Global trends in rabies prevalence and predictive modeling to understand future risks.2. Outcomes of rabies vaccination campaigns in domestic and wild animal populations, with emphasis on achieving and sustaining herd immunity thresholds.3. Innovative public education strategies that enhance community awareness and encourage proactive measures against rabies.4. Integrated One Health approaches involving humans, animals, and the environment to support rabies elimination.5. Evaluations of health policies and control programs, including assessments of progress toward the WHO “Zero by 30” target; and recommendations for policy improvements.6. Surveillance systems, diagnostic capacity, burden estimation, and technologies such as mobile apps and GIS for tracking and managing rabies exposure.7. Equitable access to post-exposure prophylaxis, best practices for its delivery, and training of healthcare professionals in managing rabies exposure.8. Case studies demonstrating the impact of community-led and interdisciplinary collaborations and initiatives for reducing rabies incidence. Topic editors: Parimala Mohanty, Terence Odoch, Ewaldus Wera Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/81606/acting-together-for-global-rabies-elimination