Street animals can improve and be useful to the communities in which they live but can also carry diseases, including rabies. They can cause nuisance and be dangerous to children.

There are many groups in Nepal, including NGOs, student associations and clubs who work to improve both animal and human welfare

Information from these groups is shown on the DogData maps.

Any interested citizen as well as stakeholders with concerns about public health can check what dog related activities have been carried out in their area.

There is no single reliable source for information about dog related matters in the country. Data about numbers of dogs vaccinated or neutered is published on some websites and social media but formats are not consistent and many groups do not publish what they do.

Municipal authorities are responsible for the dogs on their streets. In the past they dealt with excess numbers by culling the animals. This is no longer legally allowed or acceptable to the public and so municipal authorities conduct vaccination and neutering programmes. Currently data is not available from these programmes.

Rabies is a viral zoonotic, 100% fatal, and vaccine-preventable disease that can infect all mammals. In rabies-endemic countries like Nepal, India and China nearly 99% of the cases in humans are caused by dog bites.

It is possible to protect against rabies by a course of immunisation injections. Or, if bitten, it is possible to take a series of post exposure injections providing the vaccine is available.

The best way to protect large communities is to ensure that the dogs that live within them do not get rabies and this is achieved by vaccinating at least 70% of the dogs in the community against rabies.

Some of the dog vaccines last for two or even three years but because many of the street dogs do not stay in the area most vaccination programmes need to be repeated every year to ensure community safety.

Rabies remains a significant public health concern in Nepal, with a high incidence of cases among both humans and animals. The disease kills between 100 and 200 animals and possibly100 people in Nepal every year. Children are more susceptible to dog bites because of their close acquaintance with new born pups and pedestrians can also become the victims of stray dog bites.

Nepal shares an open border with India in the south, the country with the highest rabies burden, accounting for 35% of all human deaths worldwide. China is the second country after India in the annual incidence of human rabies cases.

Solution for Rabies Threats:

• • • Effective dog surveillance/ rabies surveillance
    • Mass Anti-rabies Vaccination campaign annually
    • Extensive humane dog population management programs
    • Extensive rabies awareness program

The Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD) under the Ministry of Health and Population in Nepal is responsible for control and surveillance of zoonotic diseases. The graph provided alongside, and the “Rabies surveillance and dog bites” table, compiled from Annual Health Reports published by the Department of Health Services and available here, illustrate the correlation between reported animal bites and human rabies deaths in Nepal. Human rabies is still a not-notifiable disease in Nepal and so the numbers will be understated.