Synchronized dog vaccinations to prevent human rabies in Africa
Official title: Improving dog vaccinations: a development and feasibility study to pave the way for effective, synchronized dog vaccination campaigns in Africa
Funded at Ifakara Health Institute · NIH-11193494 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project will try coordinated media campaigns plus one-day, synchronized dog vaccination drives to boost dog vaccination rates and lower the risk of rabies for people in affected African communities.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Ifakara Health Institute NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania U Rep) |
| Project start | September 19, 2024 |
| Project end | August 31, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $93,127 |
| NIH project number | 5K43TW012582-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11193494 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal participants are dog owners and household members living in the communities selected for the vaccination campaigns who can bring their dogs to the scheduled vaccination events.
✕Less likely to help
People who do not own or care for dogs, live outside the campaign areas, or cannot bring their dogs to the vaccination sites may not receive direct benefit from the campaign.
What this research studies
From a local resident's view, the team will organize one-day, district-wide dog vaccination events timed across many villages and promote them with mass media before the day. They will compare this synchronized approach to the usual multi-day, team-led village-by-village campaigns to see which reaches more dogs. The project includes community outreach, tracking how many dogs are vaccinated, and checking whether owners bring their pets on the vaccination day. The aim is to test whether this combined media-plus-synchronized approach is practical and can reach the 70% dog vaccination coverage needed to stop rabies spread.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could lower dog-mediated human rabies cases by increasing dog vaccination coverage and making communities safer from deadly rabies infections.
How similar studies have gone: Synchronized vaccination campaigns combined with media outreach have worked well in Latin America, but this approach is relatively untested at scale in East African settings.
Where this research is happening
-
Ifakara Health Institute
Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania U Rep Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Maganga, Sambo Burton — Ifakara Health Institute
- Study coordinator: Maganga, Sambo Burton
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
Protective dengue vaccines that steer T and B cell responses
A vaccine study aims to guide the body’s T and B cells to fight all four dengue virus types safely and effectively.
-
Respiratory pathogen–specific T cell signatures after vaccination, infection, and treatment
A research effort to map how immune T cells respond to respiratory infections and vaccines, with potential to guide better vaccines and treatments for conditions like covid-19 and pertussis.
-
Malaria vaccine and infection: how the body’s early and later immune responses relate to protection
Researchers are studying how people’s immune systems respond to the malaria pre-erythrocytic stage, whether after vaccination or infection, to identify which responses are linked to protection.
-
Spatially responsive mass vaccination for urban rabies
A new plan uses data and maps to place vaccination sites where they’re most needed in cities, aiming to boost rabies vaccination for both people and dogs.
-
Spatially responsive mass vaccination for urban rabies
A project tests smarter placement of vaccination sites to increase mass canine rabies vaccination in cities.
-
Vaccine failure after Covid-19 vaccination in older adults
This project follows vaccinated older adults to understand who among them still gets Covid-19 and what factors make those outcomes worse.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.