Pre-congress workshop on Prevention, Surveillance and Control of Rabies in urban and Rural Settings in South Africa- 22-23 August at the East London ICC
· To increase awareness and communication about rabies in the Eastern Cape Province
· To understand animal rabies diagnosis ( Tour of the diagnostic facility)
· To improve knowledge and practice on rabies epidemiological data in particular rabies incidence.
· To discuss the present situation of rabies prophylaxis in humans and propose practical solutions to increase access to post-exposure prophylaxis in the province
· To increase knowledge on dog rabies vaccination and other approaches for dog population management.
· To create an inter-sectorial rabies network and to promote one health approach and dog vaccination to control rabies in the province and neighbouring provinces.
A total of 36 veterinary and para-veterinarians were brought together to take part in this workshop. The participants included officials from all provincial veterinary services as well as national veterinary services (DALRRD), experts from the ARC-OVI laboratory and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases. We also had the honour to host WOAH Sub-Regional Representation technical officer Dr Tenzin Tenzin who delivered a talk about rabies control and elimination strategies for our region. It was an important opportunity to share and learn from the experience of colleagues working in the field in areas with active outbreaks.
Figure 1: Group photo of the pre-congress workshop