Eliminating Rabies in Rwanda?

Navigating Kigali’s equatorial temperatures and steep terrain, teams of vets and support staff played a city-wide hunt of ‘Find that Dog’. A large 4x4 car made loops of the local area sporting megaphones calling residents to “bring out their dogs”.  Teams also worked for hours going door to door, looking for dog paws under gates, listening for barking sounds, and asking neighbours, with children particularly reliable dog locators. 

In March 2026 Mission Rabies in partnership with the Government of Rwanda and the Welfare for Animals Guild (WAG) launched a pilot project to prevent the spread of rabies across the country.

Part community engagement, part tech-driven data collection, teams of Rwandans wearing sunshine yellow t-shirts populated coloured polygons with dog data on their smart phones. Over the course of 10 days in three sectors of Kigali, the capital city, they found and vaccinated 1,868 dogs and 65 cats. “It all relates to good data, unless it’s a systematic approach and you hit the 70% of the dog population to get herd immunity, you are just diluting” said Dagmar Mayer, one of the organisers from Mission Rabies.

Rabies is the deadliest disease in the world, killing at least 60,000 people globally per year, though many cases also go unreported because of a lack of data. Once contracted it is 100% fatal. In Rwanda Biomedical Centre report five human rabies cases last year, with two of those being children.

The risk of rabies is higher towards those in more economically deprived areas, as a result of an inability to access treatment, information, or healthcare facilities.

Quantified as a ‘Neglected Tropical Disease’ by the World Health Organisation, it remains largely overlooked in global health priorities, with already squeezed medical budgets giving priority to diseases that impact higher numbers of people. This is exacerbated by aid cuts from the US and Europe, which have decimated health budgets across the continent. When funding for more widespread diseases is at risk, reduced, or removed entirety, there is little finance left for those already neglected.  Yet, rabies is easily treatable through dog population management, vaccination and effective communications campaigns.

Through intelligent data sharing and the highly effective community mobilisation in Rwanda, documenting dogs and supporting owners to access vaccines is possible. Mayer said, “It's a way people die that just shouldn't really happen anymore in our time. And it is preventable. We can do something about it, and as vet it’s probably the ultimate disease that makes such a difference. You know, it's as easy as vaccinating dogs.”

And yet, vaccinating dogs can also require a change in perception, something that is gradually happening in Rwanda. Traditionally seen as working animals, security for livestock or homes, dogs are now being embraced as pets and for social status. This cross-section was reflected in the campaign. One owner of livestock dogs who were protecting a cow was grateful and enthusiastic for help in caring for his animals. At another house, two tiny Terriers barked enthusiastically at us as a potential threat.

As Rwanda implements a systematic approach to delivering vaccine prevention, and eliminating this fatal disease, it sits in sharp contrast with the rise of vaccine hesitancy around the world. Since Covid 19, concerns about vaccinations and their side-effects have significantly increased with evidence suggesting that hesitancy extends beyond humans to beloved pets. In part, this because of misinformation.

Countries that have made these gains in eliminating dog to human rabies transmission are often too far away, geographically and historically, from the impact of the disease.

In Rwanda, this pilot is just the start. Taking the learning and data from these three sectors, government and NGOs are better placed to train vets and practitioners to train others, and in time, roll out the campaign across the country. The country is already implementing a CDC designed One Health approach to follow up on dog bites and reported erratic behaviour in animals. “There is a need to strengthen rabies surveillance by ensuring all dog bites are reported, and the right questions are asked” said Dr Richard Nduwayezu Chair of Snakebite, Taeniasis and Rabies Elimination Committee] “IBCM (Integrated Bite Case Management) is the needed approach and will not only save lives but also minimise the cost spent on post-exposure prophylaxis”