Vision 2030: Dog-mediated human rabies-free India: Action must begin now

[...]in July, 2016, at the 18th national conference of rabies organized by Association for Prevention and Control of Rabies in India (APCRI) at National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, it was resolved to support and work for accomplishing the global goal by ensuring a dog-mediated human rabies-free India by 2030. [...]through well-organized communication campaigns and participatory approach, renewed efforts must be made to popularize and enforce (whenever and wherever needed) compulsory licensing of pet dogs in urban areas to begin with and later on to cover other areas; ensure accountability of Animal Birth Control programme for dogs in urban areas through periodic dog population surveys; and introduce annual mass dog vaccinations campaigns on the lines of the successful pulse polio vaccination. [...]the freedom from dog-mediated human rabies in India by 2030 must be viewed by the Government of India as a public good, and India should occupy a place of pride in the WHO by achieving this goal successfully.