Published: 01:28 AM, 30 September 2026
Let’s Make Sure No One in Bangladesh Dies of Rabies
A few days ago, a short video on social media caught my attention. A schoolboy was walking home along a deserted road when three dogs surrounded him and began biting him relentlessly. Local residents soon rushed in and rescued him. Afterwards, his family, frightened but worried about the wounds and the cost of treatment, hoped they would heal on their own. A few weeks later, the child reportedly died after the dog bites.
No family should have to go through this, because rabies is preventable. Once symptoms appear, it is almost always fatal, but every death can be stopped if we act in time.
Bangladesh has already shown that. Since the National Rabies Elimination Program began in 2011, mass dog vaccination has expanded, and more people can now get post-exposure treatment after a bite. A recent WHO document reports that Bangladesh recorded 47 human rabies cases in 2023, that more than 2.8 million doses of post-exposure prophylaxis were administered over the past decade, and that mass dog vaccination coverage was above 80%. These numbers reflect real lives saved.
But progress is not the same as victory. Between 2011 and 2022, 724 human rabies deaths were still reported. Rabies also kills livestock: a 2024 analysis of 2011-2023 data recorded 3,283 rabies deaths in livestock, a serious loss for the families who depend on those animals. Globally, rabies still kills an estimated 59,000 people every year, and children in Asia and Africa suffer the most.
This is why the theme of World Rabies Day 2026, “Stronger Together”, matters so much for us. Rabies does not stay inside one ministry or department. It passes from animal to human and moves between villages and cities. If the disease crosses sectors, our response must too.
‘One Health’ simply means that the health of people, animals and the environment are linked. When a dog is vaccinated in a village, a child in that village is safer. When a veterinary officer reports a suspected rabid animal, a doctor can prepare for the people exposed. When a bite victim reaches a hospital quickly, the family can be spared a tragedy.
For this to work, the health, livestock and veterinary sectors and local government must share information and act together. Bangladesh has taken good steps, including strengthening animal rabies diagnosis through the Central Disease Investigation Laboratory and building partnerships among health, veterinary and local authorities and international partners. The next step is to make these partnerships permanent, properly funded and accountable, using digital surveillance and GIS mapping to send resources where the risk is highest.
At this stage, some people might think the answer to rabies is to remove the dogs. It is not. The science is very clear, vaccinating dogs stops the disease at its source, and the global target is to vaccinate at least 70% of the dog population to interrupt transmission. Killing dogs does not replace vaccination, and it does not fit a modern One Health approach as well. Protecting people and treating animals humanely go hand in hand, through vaccination, responsible ownership, humane dog population management and access to veterinary care.
Bangladesh now has a National Strategy for Dog-Mediated Rabies Elimination for 2024-2030, in line with the global ‘Zero by 30’ goal. The task is to turn this strategy into a funded, working system, not a set of temporary projects.
Besides, policies alone will not save a child bitten in a remote village. Families need to know what to do in the first minutes after a bite. Thanks to the awareness campaign initiated over the years by different stakeholders, the message is distributed through multiple channels and reaches end beneficiaries. Wash the wound immediately with soap and running water for at least 15 minutes, go to the nearest health facility without delay to get post-exposure treatment, do not rely on home remedies or wait to see whether the dog ‘falls sick’, and keep pet dogs vaccinated.
Educational institutes like schools, colleges, and madrasas have a big role here, because children are the most likely to be bitten. Teachers, doctors, veterinarians, local leaders, animal-welfare groups and the media can all repeat these simple messages, and not only on 28 September. The aim is informed coexistence of safer communities, healthier animals, and fewer chances for the virus to spread.
“Stronger Together” should be more than a slogan. It should mean that policymakers protect long-term funding for rabies elimination, health authorities guarantee timely access to quality post-exposure care and vaccines, and veterinary services keep up high-quality mass dog vaccination and humane population management. And local government authority, like the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), supports community-level work and ensures monitoring; laboratories and surveillance teams produce reliable data; educators and the media make prevention knowledge easy to understand and reach every household. Communities care responsibly for animals and act quickly after any possible exposure. Moreover, a permanent multisectoral mechanism linking health, livestock, education, local government, researchers, civil society and development partners would keep everyone accountable.
Perhaps, ending human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030 is an ambitious goal, but we have the tools and the experience. On World Rabies Day 2026, the most meaningful commitment is to keep working every day, well beyond the day itself. When partnerships are strong, systems are strong, and strong systems can bring Bangladesh closer to a future where no child, and no family, loses someone to rabies.
Shaporan Haque is a communications professional with experience in strategic communication, public affairs and health-sector advocacy and can be reached at [email protected].
