This day is celebrated annually to raise awareness about rabies prevention and to highlight progress in defeating this horrifying disease.
28 September also marks the anniversary of Louis Pasteur's death, the French chemist and microbiologist, who developed the first rabies vaccine.
The safe and efficacious animal and human vaccines are among the important tools that exist to eliminate human deaths from rabies while awareness is the key driver for success of communities to engage in effective rabies prevention.
World Rabies Day 2017 marks the announcement of the biggest global anti-rabies initiative.
World Health Organization, the World Organisation for Animal Health, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Global Alliance for Rabies Control will reveal an ambitious plan to end human deaths from dog-transmitted rabies by 2030.
World Rabies Day is the first and only global day of action and awareness for rabies prevention. It is an opportunity to unite as a community and for individuals, NGOs and governments to connect and share their work.
Created and coordinated annually by GARC, World Rabies Day, September 28th, focuses on rabies endemic countries, to increase community awareness of the disease and its prevention.
World Rabies Day also raises the profile of national and local control programmes and acts as a springboard for year-round capacity building and awareness.
At the global conference on rabies elimination in 2015, a common goal of zero human deaths from canine rabies by 2030 was agreed by the World Health Organization, World Organisation for Animal Health, UN Food and Agriculture Organization and GARC.
In support of this goal, the 2017 World Rabies Day theme is Rabies: Zero by 30.
