World Rabies Day 2023: Date, Theme, History, Significance And More

Every year, September 28 is marked as the World Rabies Day. On Thursday, 17th World Rabies Day will be observed to raise awareness about rabies prevention and to highlight progress in defeating this horrifying disease.

According to the World Health Organization, rabies is a vaccine-preventable, zoonotic, viral disease affecting the central nervous system. Once clinical symptoms appear, rabies is virtually 100% fatal. 

September 28 also marks the anniversary of Louis Pasteur's death, the French chemist and microbiologist, who developed the first rabies vaccine.

Here is all you need to know about World Rabies Day 2023:

This year’s World Rabies Day theme is: “All for 1, One Health for all”. The theme highlights that One Health is not for a selected few but for everyone.

According to WHO, TRabies control programmes offer a great example to operationalize One Health - building the structures and trust that are crucial to establish systems for other zoonotic diseases, including those that are pandemic-prone.

Ensuring equitable access to health services and rabies post-exposure prophylaxis for underserved communities not only saves lives but also strengthens national health systems, the global health body said.

By collaborating and joining forces across sectors, engaging communities and committing to sustain dog vaccination, together as 1 we can work towards 1 goal to eliminate 1 disease to make One Health available to all – using rabies as the example, WHO said.

World Rabies Day is the biggest event on the global rabies calendar, coordinated by GARC (Global Alliance for Rabies Control and it has been commemorated every year on September 28 – the anniversary of the death of Louis Pasteur – since 2007.

GARC is the leading international rabies non-profit organization.

Rabies is present on all continents and affects over 150 countries. World Rabies Day is important to raise awareness of the consequences of human and animal rabies and how to prevent it.

• Rabies causes tens of thousands of deaths every year, mainly in Asia and Africa, 40% of whom are children under 15 years of age.

• Dogs are the main source of human rabies deaths, contributing up to 99% of all rabies transmissions to humans.

• Rabies can be prevented through vaccination of dogs and prevention of dog bites.

• After a potential exposure of people to a rabid animal, they can seek post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), which consists of immediate, thorough wound washing with soap and water for 15 minutes, a series of rabies vaccinations and, if indicated, administration of rabies immunoglobulin or monoclonal antibodies, which can be life-saving.

• Globally rabies causes an estimated cost of US$ 8.6 billion per year.

*Information sourced via World Health Organization.