title: Review on dog rabies vaccination coverage in Africa: a question of dog accessibility or cost recovery?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Rabies still poses a significant human health problem throughout most of Africa, where the majority of the human cases results from dog bites. Mass dog vaccination is considered to be the most effective method to prevent rabies in humans. Our objective was to systematically review research articles on dog rabies parenteral vaccination coverage in Africa in relation to dog accessibility and vaccination cost recovery arrangement (i.e.free of charge or owner charged).
  
  
  RESULTS
  A systematic literature search was made in the databases of CAB abstracts (EBSCOhost and OvidSP), Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, Medline (EBSCOhost and OvidSP) and AJOL (African Journal Online) for peer reviewed articles on 1) rabies control, 2) dog rabies vaccination coverage and 3) dog demography in Africa. Identified articles were subsequently screened and selected using predefined selection criteria like year of publication (viz. ≥ 1990), type of study (cross sectional), objective(s) of the study (i.e. vaccination coverage rates, dog demographics and financial arrangements of vaccination costs), language of publication (English) and geographical focus (Africa). The selection process resulted in sixteen peer reviewed articles which were used to review dog demography and dog ownership status, and dog rabies vaccination coverage throughout Africa. The main review findings indicate that 1) the majority (up to 98.1%) of dogs in African countries are owned (and as such accessible), 2) puppies younger than 3 months of age constitute a considerable proportion (up to 30%) of the dog population and 3) male dogs are dominating in numbers (up to 3.6 times the female dog population). Dog rabies parenteral vaccination coverage was compared between "free of charge" and "owner charged" vaccination schemes by the technique of Meta-analysis. Results indicate that the rabies vaccination coverage following a free of charge vaccination scheme (68%) is closer to the World Health Organization recommended coverage rate (70%) than the achieved coverage rate in owner-charged dog rabies vaccination schemes (18%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most dogs in Africa are owned and accessible for parenteral vaccination against rabies if the campaign is performed "free of charge".
authors: Business Economics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands; College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture, Addis Ababa University, Debre Zeit, Ethiopia.
authors: Tariku
authors: T
authors: Jibat
authors: Business Economics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors: Henk
authors: H
authors: Hogeveen
authors: Business Economics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors: Monique C M
authors: MC
authors: Mourits
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D000818:Animals; D001733:Bites and Stings / Q000150:complications*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D032541:Mass Vaccination / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010067:Ownership; D011818:Rabies / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011819:Rabies Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000191:economics / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D011819:Rabies Vaccines
references: Acta Vet Scand. 1999;40(3):231-40
references: 10605140
references: Acta Trop. 2001 Mar 30;78(3):217-30
references: 11311185
references: Vaccine. 2003 May 16;21(17-18):1965-73
references: 12706685
references: BMJ. 2003 Sep 6;327(7414):557-60
references: 12958120
references: Prev Vet Med. 2003 Nov 12;61(3):227-33
references: 14554145
references: Bull World Health Organ. 2003;81(10):739-44
references: 14758434
references: Emerg Infect Dis. 2004 Dec;10(12):2214-7
references: 15663865
references: Med Trop (Mars). 2005;65(1):53-8
references: 15903078
references: Bull World Health Organ. 2005 May;83(5):360-8
references: 15976877
references: World Health Organ Tech Rep Ser. 2005;931:1-88, back cover
references: 16485446
references: BMC Med Res Methodol. 2007 Feb 15;7:10
references: 17302989
references: Cad Saude Publica. 2007 Sep;23(9):2049-63
references: 17700940
references: J S Afr Vet Assoc. 1991 Dec;62(4):158-62
references: 1770490
references: Vaccine. 2007 Dec 12;25(51):8500-7
references: 18006120
references: BMC Vet Res. 2008 Jan 29;4:5
references: 18230137
references: PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2008 Mar 26;2(3):e206
references: 18365035
references: Emerg Infect Dis. 2008 Oct;14(10):1650-2
references: 18826838
references: Vaccine. 2009 Jan 1;27(1):152-60
references: 18848595
references: Epidemiol Infect. 2009 Nov;137(11):1558-67
references: 19327197
references: BMC Vet Res. 2009 Jun 01;5:21
references: 19486516
references: PLoS Med. 2009 Jul 21;6(7):e1000097
references: 19621072
references: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Sep 1;106(35):14996-5001
references: 19706492
references: Zoonoses Public Health. 2011 Mar;58(2):110-8
references: 20042063
references: PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2010 Feb 23;4(2):e626
references: 20186330
references: Vet Rec. 1990 Dec 15;127(24):592-6
references: 2075689
references: Bull World Health Organ. 1990;68(3):281-91
references: 2118428
references: J S Afr Vet Assoc. 2010 Dec;81(4):207-15
references: 21526734
references: Med Trop (Mars). 2011 Dec;71(6):596-604
references: 22393628
references: Vet Res Commun. 1990;14(5):415-25
references: 2247948
references: Vaccine. 2012 May 21;30(24):3492-502
references: 22480924
references: Prev Vet Med. 2013 Jan 1;108(1):1-9
references: 22884728
references: BMC Vet Res. 2012 Dec 05;8:236
references: 23217194
references: PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2012;6(12):e1891
references: 23236525
references: PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2013 Apr 04;7(4):e2059
references: 23593511
references: Int Health. 2012 Sep;4(3):210-9
references: 24029402
references: Infect Dis Poverty. 2013 Oct 02;2(1):22
references: 24088333
references: Trop Med Int Health. 2013 Dec;18(12):1555-62
references: 24118491
references: PLoS One. 2013 Dec 27;8(12):e83654
references: 24386244
references: Rev Infect Dis. 1988 Nov-Dec;10 Suppl 4:S684-8
references: 3060957
references: Onderstepoort J Vet Res. 1993 Dec;60(4):437-43
references: 7777333
references: Onderstepoort J Vet Res. 1993 Dec;60(4):445-9
references: 7777334
references: Vaccine. 1996 Feb;14(3):185-6
references: 8920697
references: J Vet Diagn Invest. 1996 Oct;8(4):420-6
references: 8953525
references: BMJ. 1997 Nov 22;315(7119):1371-4
references: 9432250
references: Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1998 Jun;58(6):835-45
references: 9660475