International News

Rabies Elimination - Bhutan

September 9 , 2026 16 hrs 0 min 15 0

Bhutan has become the first country in the World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia Region to eliminate dog-transmitted rabies as a public health problem.
Rabies is a viral disease that affects the central nervous system and is almost always fatal once clinical symptoms appear.
It is mainly transmitted through the saliva of infected animals, especially through bites.
Dogs are the main source of human rabies deaths, accounting for about 99% of human rabies cases globally.
Globally, rabies causes about 59,000 human deaths every year, with about one-third occurring in India.
India aims to bring human rabies deaths to zero by 2030 under the National Rabies Control Programme.