SETIF-The Director of Prevention and Control of Communicable Diseases at the Ministry of Health, Samia Hammadi said Sunday in Setif that “Algeria has made great strides in the fight against rabies and seeks to achieve zero cases by 2030.”

Speaking at an awareness-raising day held to mark World Rabies Day (September 28) at the Houari Boumediene House of Culture, the same official stressed that a national strategy constituting a plan involving several sectors in addition to citizens and civil society players had been mobilized to take action against this dangerous and deadly disease.

“The fight against rabies is a priority for the sector in order to preserve public health. Our work primarily focuses on awareness-raising, training, surveillance, widespread vaccination and coordination between sectors, including agriculture and religious affairs.”

For her part, Houria Khelifi, representing the World Health Organization (WHO), indicated that 60,000 people, the majority of them children, were affected by rabies every year, the main vector of which remains the dog, accounting for 99% of cases. Prevention is the best way of combating the disease and relies on vaccination in the event of a bite from a dog or any other animal, she continued. 

Dr. Kamel Ait Oubeli from the National Public Health Institute said that the eradication of human rabies required, first and foremost, the elimination of animal rabies, advocating improved methods of healthcare for people infected with rabies, and treatment including vaccination.

The meeting, which brought together sector executives and doctors from nine of the country,s provinces, featured presentations on the epidemiological situation of human and animal rabies in Algeria and the province of Setif on the national control strategy and preventive measures before a bite.