Eliminating canine rabies: the role of public-private partnerships

Canine rabies has been eliminated from industrialized countries, but infected dogs remain the principal source of human infections in the developing world. Despite the availability of effective tools for prevention and post-exposure prophylaxis, canine rabies inflicts a heavy burden on the poorest people of Africa, Asia and Latin America, resulting in more than 60,000 deaths each year. Public-private partnerships offer a new approach to the challenge of eliminating canine rabies in the developing world, by bringing together stakeholders to share responsibilities and reduce costs. The leading partnership for rabies control, the Partners for Rabies Prevention, is an informal international group that includes representatives of major health organizations (WHO, PAHO, FAO, OIE), the European Commission, universities, nongovernmental organizations, the human and animal health industries, and private global health institutions. This article describes how the Partners for Rabies Prevention is working toward the global elimination of canine rabies. It forms part of a symposium in Antiviral Research on the elimination of canine rabies.