One Health implementation for rabies elimination in India by 2030: Progress, governance, challenges, and policy...

India has committed to eliminating dog-mediated human rabies by 2030 through the National Action Plan for Rabies Elimination (NAPRE), aligned with the global "Zero by 30" target within a One Health framework. Yet nationally representative 2022-23 data indicate that substantial dog-bite exposure and preventable rabies deaths persist despite effective preventive interventions. This commentary argues that India's slow progress reflects implementation gaps, including fragmented governance, weak integrated surveillance, inadequate canine vaccination coverage, inequitable access to timely post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), and limited multisectoral accountability. Achieving elimination requires operational One Health systems with integrated surveillance, sustained mass dog vaccination, universal intradermal PEP access, and targeted pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in low PEP access high-risk settings.