SM Golam Kaiser, deputy manager of the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) zoonotic disease control program, told Prothom Alo that the number of rabies deaths each year before 2010 was 2,500. Various measures to eradicate rabies have now reduced the number of deaths.
Sources said the Health Ministry had adopted a National Rabies Elimination Program in 2011 to eliminate rabies from the country. Four strategies – increasing social awareness and advocacy, prescribing modern medical management for dog bites, mass dog vaccination and dog population management through ligation and castration – were taken up as part of the programme. However, dog population management has not yet begun.
According to Health Ministry data, more than 500,000 dog bite victims will get vaccinated in 2023. A total of 451,000 people got vaccinated in 2022. The number of deaths due to rabies in these two years is 86. Now 409 facilities at the district-upazila level provide vaccines to people suffering from animal bites. Also, different medical colleges provide the vaccine.
MD Mizanur Rahman, acting physician at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, told Prothom Alo that the number of animal bite patients is increasing. DGHS and other concerned government bodies should work in a coordinated manner to reduce the number of victims of animal bites. Along with stray animals, pets will also have to be brought under the ambit of vaccination.