Ministry of Agriculture Supports the Target of Rabies-Free Indonesia 2030

The target for Indonesia to be free of rabies by 2030 must be supported by good planning. Target per region and control efforts must also be made clearer, so that budget support for control can be planned appropriately.

This was conveyed by the Director General of Animal Husbandry and Animal Health (Dirjen PKH), Ministry of Agriculture, Nasrullah when opening the World Rabies Day Webinar with the theme Oral Rabies Vaccine: Innovation in Rabies Eradication.

Rabies or mad dog disease is still a public health problem and animal health in Indonesia. Eight provinces and several districts and islands in Indonesia are recorded to be free of this disease, while the rest are still infected areas.

“I hope this webinar can provide input for better efforts to eradicate rabies in Indonesia in the future,” he said.

In the webinar which was attended by around 400 participants via the Zoom Cloud Meeting application and broadcast live on YouTube, also attended by Allaster Cox, Chargé d’Affaires of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. Allaster expressed his support for various efforts to eradicate rabies in Indonesia. He hopes that with the Australia Indonesia Health Security Partnership (AIHSP) program, the cooperation in the field of health security between the two countries will be stronger.

The webinar, which was held for nearly three hours, presented various experts in the field of rabies and the use of the oral rabies vaccine at the national and international levels.

Fadjar Sumping Tjatur Rasa, Director of Animal Health, Directorate General of PKH, Ministry of Agriculture in his presentation conveyed programs and strategies for controlling rabies in Indonesia. He acknowledged that rabies control in Indonesia is still facing various challenges, but he also noted that there are many lessons learned and success stories of implementing this program.

“We have successfully declared several areas free from rabies by implementing an intensive control and surveillance program. We are optimistic that with the support of various parties, especially community participation, we can achieve the 2030 free rabies target,” he said.

Potential Uses of Oral Rabies Vaccines

Meanwhile, Katinka de Balogh, Senior Animal Health and Production Officer, FAO Regional Office for Asia Pacific in Bangkok, Thailand representing Tripartite FAO / OIE / WHO, explained the rabies situation and challenges faced in the Asian region. Not much different from Indonesia, regional areas also face the same problems, such as dogs as the main cause of the spread of rabies that are still released, limited resources, and low vaccination rates.

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