The planning phase for the project should start no later than 6 months before a campaign. This is critical to ensure all stakeholders have an opportunity to engage in the planning process and enough time is allowed for vaccine and equipment procurement. This topic outlines the logistical necessities for planning a successful mass dog vaccination campaign.
Location
It is likely that readers of this document already have a planned location for their mass dog rabies vaccination campaign. However, for National – level organisers, there are some potential considerations which may influence the selection of locations to begin work in.
Considerations:
- Rabies incidence
- Human Population
- Infrastructure
- Population and prioritisaiton mapping (e.g. STARC)
Rabies Incidence
If there is an effective surveillance project running within the Country/Province, it may be possible to identify locations where human and/or canine rabies is highest and target these first.
Human Population
Locations where there is a large, dense human population have the potential to be higher-risk for rabies transmission. Human population data is generally easily available through national censuses and hence targeting of dense population centres could be a strategy for campaign location decision making.
Infrastructure
Proximity to urban centres and hence better roads, cold chain facilities, access to stakeholders may be a consideration for a first campaign. While campaign managers are familiarising themselves with MDV campaign logistics, it may be useful to begin work in urban centres where infrastructure-based challenges are minimised.
Prioritization mapping
The transmission of rabies is influenced by population and geographic factors, and so is beneficial to plan vaccination efforts with this in mind. Mapping tools have been developed to predict rabies transmission zones; identifying population blocks that are likely to sustain rabies virus circulation. It is therefore likely that the virus can be effectively controlled by planning vaccination campaigns to target these populations in blocks.
The Settlement Type and Road Connectivity (STARC) was developed by the US-CDC and International Rabies Taskforce (IRT). It uses human population data and road networks to indicate varying levels of rabies transmissibility. High human population density with high road connectivity generally leads to an increased human-to-dog interactions. In this topic we will discuss the STARC mapping tool to help campaign planners to plan effective interventions.