SPECIAL REPORT: Rabies treatment and prevention underfunded
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DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 6 May) — Earlier this year, the DOH Davao Region raised concerns over rabies-related deaths, which increased by 50%—from 24 deaths in 2023 to 36 in 2024.
Davao del Norte recorded 13 deaths, an increase of more than 300% compared to the three cases in 2023. Davao de Oro posted seven deaths; Davao del Sur, five; Davao Occidental, four; Davao Oriental, four; and Davao City, three.
In a press conference in Davao City on January 24, 2025, Dr. Abdullah B. Dumama Jr., Undersecretary of Health and DOH-Davao Regional Director, said the main reason is that the anti-rabies program is underfunded.
Hilario reported an insufficient amount of vials to meet the 190,000 animal bites recorded in the Davao Region in 2024, not to mention the unreported cases.
Hilario reiterated during the interview with MindaNews that the regional budget for the rabies program is only ₱1 million, but they receive an augmentation from the central office, which last year was ₱8 million.
But she noted that when you factor in the number of cases in the region, the allocated fund is not sufficient, considering every patient needs at least three doses of post-exposure prophylaxis, which is equivalent to 1.5 vials of the vaccine.
“We are using the type of vaccine that can be shared by four patients, but the ₱9-million allocation is never going to be enough. That is why we encourage the local government units to purchase for their own constituents,” Hilario said.
Hilario said that for 2024 alone, the region earmarked ₱9 million for the procurement of vaccines, which can only secure about 3,000 vials. Unfortunately, the region logged 193,173 animal bite cases for the whole year.
For 2025, the regional budget is still ₱1 million and is currently awaiting augmentation from the DOH central office.
Dr. Armie Capuyan, focal person of the animal disease monitoring and surveillance of the Department of Agriculture in the Davao Region, told MindaNews that budget for animal vaccination is also not given priority by some local government units.
DA-Davao reported that in 2024, Davao City topped in having the most number of dogs vaccinated and in terms of percentage of the target dog population (156,817 dogs vaccinated, representing 80.59% of the target 194,578); followed by Davao del Sur with 62.67%; Davao Oriental with 42.15%; Davao de Oro, 28.20%; Davao del Norte, 23.90%; and Davao Occidental, 22.72%.
Capuyan added that this is also true at the national level, where dog vaccination will have to take a back seat in favor of food security
But she said that in their advocacy, they remind the LGUs to help out because, ultimately, it is their constituents who become victims of rabies.
‘Zero by 30’ far from over
A decade ago, the world called for action by setting a goal of zero human deaths due to rabies from dogs by 2030.
The World Health Organization (WHO), World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) joined forces as the United Against Rabies collaboration.
The Philippines, through Republic Act 9482 (also known as the Anti-Rabies Act) passed in 2007, the National Rabies and Control Program aimed to eliminate human rabies by 2016 and declare the country rabies-free by 2020.
But the world was shaken by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and the target goal was moved to 2027, and again to 2030.
As far as Davao Region is concerned, Hilario admitted that achieving the goal within only five years is challenging—the number of rabies cases are still nowhere near zero.
In 2020, there were 27 deaths recorded, which declined to 23 in 2021. But rose dramatically in 2022 to 43 cases. The number, however, went downhill to 24 in 2023, but increased by 50% in 2024, with 36 fatalities. For the first quarter of 2025, the region already logged seven deaths.
Animal bites, meanwhile, have increased more than three-folds during the same period: 61,084 in 2020, 58,071 in 2021, 74,268 in 2022, 121,533 in 2023, and 193,713 in 2024.
Hilario noted that these are just the reported cases from the DOH ABTCs, excluding the records from the private animal bite centers.
Stray management vis-à-vis responsible pet ownership
Rabies awareness in the Philippines peaked early last year with the tragic death of 13-year-old Jamaica, a young girl from Manila who was bitten by a stray dog. Out of fear and misunderstanding, she hid the incident from her parents. Two months later, on April 6, 2024, she succumbed to encephalitic rabies, the kind wherein the victim is usually hyperactive, agitated, and has hydrophobia (fear of water).
The incident sparked a storm on social media and drew attention to gaps in rabies awareness, prevention, and treatment.
Jamaica was walking home from school in Tondo, Manila when a stray dog bit her. Eight other people were bitten by the same dog, but only Jamaica died.
The girl could have survived if she had told her parents about the incident, or even better, if stray dogs were contained or vaccinated.
The Philippine Animal Welfare Society, a non-government organization, said there are over 13 million stray animals in the country as of 2024.
In the region, of the 36 human deaths recorded in 2024, 23 were associated with domesticated animals and 13 with strays.
While the Philippines’ goal of mass vaccination requires that at least 70% of the dogs need to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, it is an uphill battle with contraints on the budget, along with the problem in the management of stray animals and irresponsible pet ownership.
“In our house-to-house campaign, some pet owners would tell us that if we want the dogs vaccinated, then we should be the ones who should go after their dogs,” Capuyan lamented.
Under the law, the local government unit is responsible for containing the stray animals.
Capuyan said that as far as the region is concerned, there are still a number of stray dogs roaming the streets, despite the efforts of some LGUs to capture the strays and bring them to the pound to be subjected to euthanasia or mercy killing.
Dr. Gay Z. Pallar, head of the animal husbandry and disease control division of the City Veterinarian’s Office, reported during a press conference in Davao City last February that they impounded 6,143 dogs and cats in 2024. Of these numbers, only 500 were reclaimed by their owners, and about 20 were adopted. The rest were euthanized due to capacity constraints.
Rovie Bullina, president of Bantay Hayop Davao, a Davao City-based non-profit animal welfare organization, stressed that stray animals are not an accidental occurrence but an indication of a much larger issue—irresponsible pet ownership.
Most of the animals rescued by the organization, which is currently housing about 300 in its shelter, are strays who were family pets once but were thrown out on the streets, Bullina said.
He said that In the first quarter of 2025, his group facilitated the handling of five rabies cases. Three of the dogs supposedly had owners, while the other two had someone feeding them for three years, let the dogs in their house, but failed to submit for vaccination, denying that the dogs were theirs to begin with.
“Not vaccinating your dogs, exposing them to the rabies virus, is animal cruelty. It’s irresponsible pet ownership. They don’t realize that their irresponsibility causes a lot of negative impact to the community, which is the spread of rabies,” Bullina stressed.
Even dog impounding, she said, which is considered the last resort of the LGUs, does not secure the public from rabies spread, and only promotes animal cruelty.
The dog pounds, she stressed, have been exploited because owners who don’t want to deal with their sick pets are surrendering them for euthanasia so they can get a new set of pets.
One Health Approach against rabies
The tragic death of Jamaica highlights the need for a more comprehensive and sustained One Health Approach in the prevention and elimination of rabies.
One of the targets of the United Against Rabies collaboration is to effectively vaccinate dogs as key to stopping rabies transmission between dogs, and from dogs to humans. By preventing transmission of rabies at its source, vaccinating dogs is a cost-effective and sustainable way to save lives, according to the WOAH.
The WHO reported that vaccination of at least 70% of the dog population in areas at risk is accepted as the most effective way of preventing human rabies deaths.
Hilario and Mijares echoed the same sentiment that it is necessary in order for dog-mediated human rabies to be eliminated by tackling the disease at its source: the dogs.
“Thinking of One Health Approach, what we need to get on our side is the community. It requires an extra effort from all concerned sectors to coordinate and cooperate,” Mijares said.
“To achieve zero deaths, we have to submit our pet animals, especially dogs and cats, for vaccination, to ensure that if they bite humans, there is a big chance they are not positive for the rabies virus,” Hilario said.
She added that dog vaccination as prevention is much more cost-efficient than treatment of human rabies, noting that the vaccination of dogs only costs as little as ₱25, and is often offered free by LGUs.
But Bullina pointed out that as responsible pet owners, people should not rely on the government all the time and make sure that their pets get vaccinated.
While tradition—like the tandok of Blocon and other areas in the country—has its place in cultural identity, Hilario stressed that when it comes to rabies, vaccination of animals and effective population management through responsible pet ownership are the most effective initiatives to prevent rabies transmission in people. (Nova Mae Francas for MindaNews)
This story is published with the support of Canal France International under the Media for One Health program.
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