Rabies and Free-roaming dogs- studies of characteristics of dog; and the KAP of community and healthcare workers of urban and rural areas of Baramati town and Sirshupal village of Pune district of an Indian State Maharashtra.

India faces an immense public health challenge in controlling dog-mediated rabies predominantly due to uncontrolled or unmanaged dog populations of free roaming dogs (FRD). The problem gets accentuated by the lack of appropriate awareness about the disease and true welfare of our dogs. Immunisation of dogs against rabies and other infections is a major dog welfare challenge that goes unheeded in the country due to a range of reasons including economic constraints.

Estimating free-roaming dog population is a difficult call in India given their enormous number, and ubiquitous presence. A study that attempted to mitigate the resource challenge associated with enumerating free-roaming dogs was conducted in Baramati, Maharashtra. A novel tool called ‘Application Superduplicates’ was found reasonable to ascertain the dog population size with tolerable error. Our team is now revalidating the tool in various locations in NE India.

The population estimation of free-roaming dogs is crucial for planning and evaluation of interventions such as mass vaccination.

Apart from the initiatives on the aspect of FRDs and its population dynamics, human aspect is of equal importance in the controlling dog-mediated rabies in India. Therefore, studies on knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) among the para-medical staff and general community is of equal importance.

The non-nursing staff were found to be more knowledgeable about rabies, however, their practices towards dog-bite wound management were seen to be inadequate as compared to the nursing staff. While most staff recognized dogs as the primary source of bites and understood the severity of the disease, but were deprived of any kind of formal training on the management of dog-bite related injuries. The community knowledge about rabies was influenced by the family size with smaller families having better knowledge. . The attitudes towards FRD was influenced by their age as older generation were more aware than the younger ones. A comprehensive understanding of the disease on the part of the community was generally lacking.

These studies in rural Maharashtra highlight the need for strategies with a multi-dimensional, multi-layered and community centric approach involving both and human sectors. Further, it underscores capacity building of healthcare staff or the frontline workers in a structured manner emphasising the crucial role of PEP in prevention of the disease in the right time and improvement in the process supply chain management and logistics of ARV and RIG for its accessibility and availability in the essential health facilities.