Stakeholders in the animal health sector have pleaded with the states and local governments in Nigeria to step up efforts at dog vaccination in order to meet 2030 rabies elimination.

The stakeholders– Life Stock Management Services (LMS) and the Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA) made the disclosure on Thursday in Abuja at the commemoration of the World Rabies Day.

World Rabies Day is observed annually on September 28 and the theme for 2023 is, “All for 1, one health for all.”

Dr Abubarka Muhammed, Director and Chief Executive Officer of LMS, in his keynote address, said the states and local councils should prioritize efforts at  rabies elimination by carrying out awareness campaigns and dog vaccination on a regular basis.

He identified weak coordination of the fight against rabies at the subnational level as a challenge militating against rabies control in the country.

Muhammed said that rabies was one of the deadliest tropical zoonoses and one of the six diseases prioritized in the animal health sector.

According to him, the 2018 Nigeria Centre for Disease Control report shows that no fewer than 10,000 dog-bite incidents in Nigeria  are documented per annum with over 1,600 deaths.

He said the best way to achieve the set target was to collaborate with traditional rulers and intensify awareness on danger posed by rabies and its preventive measure.

Muhammed listed other challenges militating against rabies elimination as inadequate laboratory diagnostic capacity especially in the human sector, limited access to vaccines and support in rural areas.

Others, according to him, are poor funding for rabies programmes with high cost of Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PEP), little awareness on anti-rabies vaccines and PEP as well as inadequate legislation.

He identified the way forward as stronger collaborative efforts by major stakeholders the ministries of agriculture, health and environment as well as private sector, stronger engagement and linkage with states and local governments.