Did you know that India accounts for over 1/3rd of global rabies deaths?

According to a study of rabies trends, using data from the National Health Profile (NHP), a collection of state-wise monthly health condition reports, 2,863 rabies cases in India were reported between 2005 and 2020. Five states contributed to over three-fourths of the total burden: West Bengal (43pc), Andhra Pradesh (10pc), Maharashtra (8pc), Karnataka (7pc) and Delhi (6pc). During this period, rabies incidence showed a significant decline from 2.36 to 0.41 per 10 million population.

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In West Bengal, incidence of rabies has consistently declined in this period.

In another data from the ministry of health and family welfare on the number of dog bites between 2018-2023 suggests a decline in dog bite cases across the country over 5 years with a sharp drop in 2022 and then a rise again in 2023.

In Bengal, there were 22,627 cases in 2022, while it shot up to 42,905 in 2023. Likewise, in India there were 21,80,185 cases in 2022, going up to 27,59,758 in 2023.

These were the facts shared during an interactive session recently, where a group of human-animal studies researchers, scientists and welfare organisations came together to provide factual perspectives on human-dog conflicts. The discussion focused on how media reporting of dog bites is often packaged as gruesome, using cliches like ‘dog menace’ to whip public emotions. The interactive session focused on more constructive reporting on human-dog conflict.

They urged the media to report such instances in a more objective and proactive manner.

Dr Anindita Bhadra, associate professor at IISER Kolkata, and an eminent scientist researching the behavioural ecologies of India’s free-ranging dogs, said, “A scientific understanding of dogs and balanced ecosystem management can lead to conflict reduction. Media reporting on human-animal conflict leads to divided opinion. There are three sets of people, dog lovers, haters and neutral. Both the lovers and haters are very vocal. But we found out that the neutral set of people are close to 60 per cent (the study is still ongoing).”

Anindita says at IISER they have created pamphlets on dos and don’ts which they shared with school children.

“People are feeding a large number of dogs in some pockets. This is not a very good idea. Dogs are territorial. If you keep increasing resources in an area, naturally the number of dogs will increase in that area. This will eventually lead to more human-dog and human-human conflict,” added Anindita.

Varda Mehrotra, founder of Samayu, a non-profit working for positive outcomes for people and animals, agrees. She said, “Some regions have higher cases, be it bites or chases or other conflicts. Dogs fight because there is either very little or plenty of food available. If there is a lot, dogs will protect that territory.”

She adds that in many states there is data available as dog-human conflict is such an understated issue. The project, RohIndi, is collecting data. They are now comparing the difference between urban and rural divide. They are studying different socio-economic classes and neighbourhoods.

To address rabies, the National Rabies Control Programme (NRCP) was devised to eliminate it by 2030.

In 2021, India declared human rabies notifiable, to ensure more accurate rabies incidence data, which is crucial for developing and implementing effective prevention and control measures.

On 9 January, 2023, the Bengal government passed an order declaring human rabies as a notifiable disease, said the dossier.