Local governments, municipalities and dog rabies control

摘要

Over the past 44 years KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), a province on the eastern seaboard of South Africa, has been battling endemic canine rabies. The implementation of a system of solid regulations, good surveillance and sound veterinary infrastructure has achieved some success in controlling the disease, but elimination has eluded the efforts of the programme. This paper aims to elucidate the factors, events and circumstances that have played a role in the successes and disappointments in controlling rabiesin KZN. Most recently, with international support and sponsorship (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and World Health Organization), the KZN Rabies Project has taken significant steps towards the ultimate goal of eliminating rabies. We assessed the role oflocal governments and municipalities, communication strategies and programme sustainability in the context of the current project and the history of rabies control in the province. As would be expected, we demonstrated that it was essential to determinethe true extent of herd immunity in the KZN dog population, which is in turn determined by the methods and approaches used in mass vaccination campaigns. We found that failures resulted from institutional pressure on the rabies control programme, including political pressures, financial constraints, poor management and shifting priorities (outbreaks of other diseases of economic importance, etc.). Successes, on the other hand, were largely dependent on the establishment of a core team of capable and motivated individuals. It appears that, in a setting such as KZN, the sourcing of committed and passionate individuals at the local level has been a key component in the creation of a platform from which there is a realistic chance of eliminating rabies, regardless of the considerable constraints and challenges prevalent in the developing world.