sensitive public spaces such as hospitals and schools have reignited debates between animal welfare advocates and public health experts. This tension reflects a larger policy challenge: balancing animal rights with the fundamental human right to life and health. Rabies victims often remain absent from this discourse, rendering human suffering politically invisible.
What Needs to Change: A Multi-Layered Response
Experts emphasise that rabies is a disease of vulnerability, shaped by poverty, weak governance, and uneven healthcare access. Addressing it requires coordinated action across sectors.
Key measures include:
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Ensuring uninterrupted supply of vaccines and immunoglobulins at all public health facilities.
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Financial protection for bite victims through free or reimbursed treatment.
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Expansion of enclosed and regulated dog shelters alongside vaccination and sterilisation.
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Community-level accountability for monitoring and vaccinating local dog populations.
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Faster regulatory approval and scaling of indigenous monoclonal antibody therapies.
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Sustained public awareness campaigns emphasising immediate wound washing and urgency of medical care.
Conclusion
Rabies in India is not a failure of medicine but a failure of systems. Every rabies death represents a missed opportunity for prevention. Until access to treatment becomes universal, policy implementation becomes consistent, and awareness reaches the last mile, rabies will continue to claim lives silently. Eliminating rabies is not merely a public health goal—it is a test of India’s commitment to equity, dignity, and the right to life.
Month: Current Affairs - December 28, 2025
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