Community-led dog vaccination could save children's lives

by evin Rokyta, Washington State University

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A community-based approach to vaccinating dogs against rabies could help protect countless children in Africa and other areas from one of the world's deadliest infectious diseases, according to a new study led by Washington State University.

Conducted over three years in rural Tanzania, the National Institutes of Health-funded study found that community-based rabies vaccination programs kept significantly more dogs protected against the disease than traditional annual campaigns led by vaccination teams from outside the communities they serve. The new approach also maintained more consistent vaccination coverage throughout the year, reducing the risk that protection would fall below the level needed to prevent transmission. The findings were published in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

"The biggest finding from this study is that community-based approaches to disease control are effective and cost-effective," said Felix Lankester, a professor at the Paul G. Allen School for Global Health in WSU's College of Veterinary Medicine, director of the Rabies Free Africa Program and senior author of the study. "Involving the community in implementing campaigns is a really effective way to achieve your disease control goals. With approaches like this, we have the tools to eliminate human rabies; however, it will take funding commitments and political will."

Rabies is estimated to kill up to 160,000 people each year, primarily in Africa and Asia. More than 99% of human cases—most of which occur in children—are caused by bites from infected domestic dogs, making widespread dog vaccination one of the most effective tools for preventing human infections.

The study compared the standard model of rabies control with a new community-based system.

Traditional programs rely on vaccination teams traveling from village to village once a year, administering vaccines that must be refrigerated and transported from centralized locations.

The new approach grew out of earlier research led by WSU showing that a commonly used rabies vaccine remains effective for up to three months when stored at 30°C (86°F) in specially designed clay pots known as zeepots. This allows communities to store and administer vaccines year-round rather than waiting for annual vaccination campaigns.

The study found the community-based approach led to more dogs being vaccinated, maintained higher vaccination coverage throughout the year and reduced the cost per dog vaccinated. By contrast, traditional annual campaigns produce a spike in vaccination coverage immediately after dogs are vaccinated, followed by a steady decline as vaccinated dogs die, move away and new unvaccinated puppies are born.

The decline often causes coverage to fall below the 40% threshold needed to maintain herd immunity against rabies. The researchers found the probability of vaccination coverage dropping below that critical level was 60% using the traditional team-based approach, compared with just 18% under the community-based system.

"With the traditional approach, you get this waxing and waning of the vaccination coverage, which tends to lead to vaccination coverage dipping below the critical vaccination threshold," Lankester said. "With the new approach, the risk of it dipping below the critical vaccination coverage was much lower, which meant that herd immunity would be maintained."

The program began in Tanzania's Mara region and has since expanded into other parts of northern Tanzania. Lankester said the community-based approach could be successful in other regions, but funding is an obstacle.

Lankester is advocating for rabies control to be considered a public health issue, not simply an animal health issue. Although dogs are vaccinated, the goal is protecting people, particularly children.

"It's about childhood health. It's about public health," Lankester said. "The benefits to dogs are clear, but that is a secondary benefit. The primary goal is to protect children from rabies."

Publication details

Christian Tetteh Duamor et al, Implementing mass dog rabies vaccination through a community-based continuous approach: A socio-anthropological process evaluation, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases (2026). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0014091

Journal information: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases

Key medical concepts

RabiesVaccination CoverageImmunity, Herd

Clinical categories

Infectious diseasesChildren's healthPreventive medicineCommon illnesses & Prevention Provided by Washington State University Who's behind this story?

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