Application of the GARC Data Logger —a custom-developed data collection device—to capture and monitor mass dog vaccination campaigns in Namibia

by Rauna Athingo, Tenzin Tenzin, Andre Coetzer, Emmanuel H. Hikufe, Josephat Peter, Laina Hango, Tangeni Haimbodi, Johannes Lipinge, Frenada Haufiku, Matias Naunyango, Magano Kephas, Albertina Shilongo, Kenneth K. Shoombe, Siegfried Khaiseb, Moetapele Letshwenyo, Patricia Pozzetti, Lorenz Nake, Louis H. Nel, Conrad M. Freuling, Thomas M üller, Gregorio Torres Domestic dogs are responsible for 99% of all cases of human rabies and thus, mass dog vaccination has been demonstrated to be the most effective approach towards the elimination of dog-mediated human rabies. Namibia demonstrated the feasibility of this approach by applying government-led strategic rabies vaccination campaigns to reduce both human and dog rabies incidences in the Northern Communal Areas of Namibia since 2016. The lessons learnt using paper-based form for data capturing and management of mass dog vaccination campaign during the pilot and roll out phase of the project (2016–2 018) led to the implementation of a simple and accurate data collection tool in the second phase (2019–2022) of the rabies elimination program. In this paper, we describe the implementation of such custom-developed vaccination tracking device, i.e. the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) Dat a Logger (GDL), and the integration of the collected data into a website-based rabies surveillance system (Rabies Epidemiological Bulletin—REB) during 2019 and 2020 campaigns. A total of 10,037 dogs and 520 cats were vaccinated during...
Source: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases - Category: Tropical Medicine Authors: Source Type: research