African man holding a puppy for world rabies day

Eliminating Rabies

Merck Animal Health, through their Afya Program, has been donating canine rabies vaccines to their non-profit partners for vaccination campaigns for more than 25 years.

world doted map, for a world free of rabies

Rabies is 100% vaccine-preventable.

Silhouette of a man and a dog

Rabies is one of the deadliest global diseases for both humans and dogs, yet it is preventable.

99%

With up to 99% of human cases being caused by dog bites, canine mass-vaccination initiatives are the most cost-effective rabies prevention measure.1

70%

In fact, rabies transmission can be eliminated in rabies-endemic areas when at least 70% of dogs are covered through annual mass-vaccination.2

However, in many large areas around the world, rabies continues to be a serious health issue.

Many communities around the world have limited access to resources and vaccines, and often awareness and education about rabies is low.

Silhouette of a man and a child

Rabies kills an estimated 59,000 people each year, with almost half of them children under 15 years of age.3

Visual of global economy

Globally, the economic burden of dog-mediated rabies is estimated at U.S. $8.6 billion per year.4

Working with our partners, we’re helping to eliminate rabies.

Merck Animal Health has donated 5 million doses of rabies vaccines to support organizations like Mission Rabies and Rabies Free Africa.
Visual of a vaccine

Mission Rabies collaborates with governments and local communities in rabies-endemic areas to run vaccination drives and provide critical education to children about dog bites.

Visual of research

Rabies Free Africa is advancing critical research into efficient and effective vaccination efforts to be implemented in areas with high rates of rabies.

Silhouette of three children

Mission Rabies has educated 5 million children about rabies prevention.

Together, we are one step closer to meeting the United Against Rabies collaboration’s goal of

zero dog-mediated human rabies deaths by 2030.

This World Rabies Day, share the importance of eliminating canine-mediated rabies using #WorldRabiesDay and #EndRabiesNow.

1. The World Health Organization. Rabies. Accessed June 3, 2022. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/rabies
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rabies Around the World. Accessed September 1, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/location/world/index.html
3. The World Health Organization. Rabies. Accessed June 3, 2022. https://www.who.int/health-topics/rabies#tab=tab_1
4. The World Health Organization. Rabies. Accessed June 3, 2022. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/rabies

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