Rabies: What Sierra Leone must do to eliminate the disease
By Kemo Cham
Today – September 28 – is World Rabies Day. The day was designated to raise awareness about one of the world’s deadliest diseases.
Rabies is a zoonotic disease – meaning an infectious illness that spreads naturally from animals to humans. The virus that causes it is usually carried by various animals, including dogs, cats and bats. However, according to WHO, dogs are responsible for 99 percent of cases globally.
What makes Rabies stand out among other zoonotic diseases is that once clinical symptoms appear, death is almost 100% certain. Reports indicate that not more than 34 well-documented cases globally have seen the individuals survive past six months following the onset of clinical symptoms. Most people who reportedlysurvived live with severe neurological issues, and only a tiny number have recovered with no permanent health problems. With such a reality, prevention is the only viable option against rabies. If someone is exposed to the virus, urgent medical intervention is required to save their life.
Sierra Leone commits to the global target of eliminating rabies by 2030, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. But according to available data, it cannot meet this target without addressing existing huge gaps. The national progress report on rabies, as contained in a publication by the Global Alliance for Rabies Elimination in 2017, paints the perfect picture of the situation. It shows, for instance, that Sierra Leone’s SARE (Stepwise Approach towards Rabies Elimination) score is zero. The SARE measures a country’s progress and readiness in controlling and eliminating dog-mediated rabies. A zero out of five score indicates that a country is at the initial baseline stage of rabies control. Countries at this stage focus primarily on basic epidemiological information compilation, disease recognition, and establishing initial data collection rather than widespread active elimination. Publicly available information shows that Sierra Leone has at least attained the recognition aspect. The National Public Health Agency (NPHA) ranks rabies among the top 10 priority zoonotic diseases in the country.
Sierra Leone has been responding to rabies for over seven decades now, since it recorded its first case. Reports, backed by personal tales of people who have battled the disease recently, illustrate a serious lack of capacity in the form of limited diagnostics, unavailability of vaccination and post-exposure prophylaxis, as well as low awareness about the disease.
Data from the NPHA reveals a high rate of ongoing dog bite incidents nationwide. In just one week in September 2026, 30 reports were made through the surveillance unit of the agency. Between January 1st and September 14th, a total of 1,106 dogbites incidents were reported across the 16 districts of the country, seven of which resulted in fatalities. The number of dogbite cases marked an increase from 994 in the same period previously.
Kono District is recording the highest number of dogbite cases, according to the data. As of August 24th, it had recorded 413 cases, six of which resulted in fatalities. Yet none of the fatalities could be confirmed with laboratorytests as rabies, even though at least three of the victims reportedly displayed “classic symptoms” of the viral disease, in the exact words of Aiah Michael Yomba, the head of risk communication at the District Health Management Team. This illustrates the pointabout diagnostic capability.
Authorities in Kono also complained that the animals disappeared as soon as they bit someone. Even their carcass couldn’t be found. The obvious question here is: where do the animals go? And what is the potential implication for this?
Another interesting observation about the situation in Kono was that it’s hard to see stray dogs on the streets, even though, according to the district animal health officials, most dogs in the district fend for themselves because their owners have abandoned them.
Data provided by the animal health division in the ministry of Agriculture indicates that 90 percent of dog heads sent to the Central Veterinary Laboratory in Makeni tested positive for the virus. This means that rabies has been circulating in the community. An important point of focus is that a dog doesn’t have to show symptoms to transmit rabies. This emphasises the importance of vaccination.
But it’s meaningless to call on people to seek the vaccines and post-exposure prophylaxis when these interventions are not available. There have been reports of dogbite victims getting turned away from health facilities because of lack of the required interventions. The case of 18-year-old Christiana Konoboy in Kono, as reported by Engage Salone in early September, is a sad but perfect illustration of this reality. But she is only one part of a large number of statistics. Many others didn’t get as much media coverage.
As hard as it is to see them, even where anti-rabies vaccines and post-exposure prophylaxis are available, they are also very expensive, placing them out of the reach of most Sierra Leoneans.
The main purpose for commemorating World Rabies Day is to raise global awareness about the disease’s prevention, promote education, and advocate for the elimination of human deaths from it. In fact, the day marks the anniversary of the death of Louis Pasteur, the French biochemist who developed the first effective anti-rabies vaccine.
The theme for the 2026 commemoration:“Stronger Together,” emphasizes building partnerships across human and animal health systems to eliminate the disease. For Sierra Leone, it calls for intensified collaboration among the various players. On one hand, the One Health Platform partners, led by the ministries of Health and Agriculture, must strengthen their collaboration to ensure addressing issues about animal health and welfare, as well as timely reporting and action after exposure. On the other hand, the government must work towards improving on the required interventions like diagnostics capabilities. Crucially, there is a need for a review of the government’s involvement in the procurement of these life saving commodities like the vaccines and post-exposure prophylaxis, as well as regulation of the involvement of the private sector players.
Addressing the stray dog problem is also a major part in the fight against dogbites and ultimately ensuring rabies elimination in Sierra Leone. Therefore, something must be done, and fast, about animal welfare. There has been talk of the review of the overly outdated Animal Health law and the introduction of an Animal Welfare Act for many years now. Relevant authorities must work with the Parliament of Sierra Leone to ensure these important pieces of legislation are passed and fully implemented.
Kemo Cham is an editor at Engage Salone. This work was produced for the Media Coalition.
