Global Elimination of Rabies – OIE Perspective

Dr. Samuel Wakhusama, the Deputy OIE Sub-regional representative for the Eastern Africa and Horn of Africa during his presentation during the Pre- #WorldRabiesDay 2016 initially provided a brief historically account of the OIE which was created on 1924 and whose name changed from Office International des Epizooties to World Organisation  for Animal Health in 2003 (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Historical transitioning of OIE

He mentioned that the mandate of the OIE is “to improve animal health, animal welfare and public health protection world-wide” and as of 1924 was established in 5 regions in 180 countries.

He further clarified that the OIE standards are grouped into the Terrestrial standards and aquatic standards. He elaborated on the OIE standard setting process as shown in the Figure 3 below

Figure 2: OIE Standard setting process

More about the presentation please view the presentation by clicking here

The take home message from his presentation was that dog-mediated rabies can be eliminated through control/prevention in the animal reservoir applying a One Health approach. He also urged members to read the outputs from the World Organisation of Animal Health (OIE) and take an active role in the contribution of  their creation.