Workshop on Surveillance and Control of Rabies
Arusha Tanzania - October 2020

This 11-day on-site course is organized by the Institut Pasteur in Paris, with the support of the Health Sciences eTraining Foundation (HSeT), the Department of Biochemistry, of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, , the World Health Organization (WHO) and in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC). This course is the fourth edition in a series that have been organized in Dakar, Senegal in 2013 (pdf), in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in 2015, in Yaounde, Cameroon in 2016, in Amol, Iran in 2017, and in Casablanca, Morocco in 2019.

The purpose of this course is to provide a practical training on rabies with a special focus on the Magreb for students and professionals of animal and human public health sectors. The course will emphasize the need for a multidisciplinary approach and intersectoral cooperation. The training objectives below have been constructed to address critical issues surrounding the present rabies situation in endemic countries, in particular in Middle East and Central Asia.

Training objectives:

• To increase awareness and communication about rabies in East Africa.
• To identify gaps and discuss opportunities for rabies control and elimination in East Africa and elaborate on strategic and practical solutions.
• To improve knowledge and practice on rabies epidemiological data in particular rabies incidence.
• To discuss the present situation of rabies prophylaxis in humans and propose practical solutions to increase access to post-exposure prophylaxis.
• To increase knowledge on dog rabies vaccination and other approaches for dog population management.
• To create an inter-sectorial regional rabies network  and to promote one health approach and dog vaccination to control rabies in the Tanzania

This course will take advantage of the new possibilities offered by e-Learning and already existing documents from WHO, OIE, GARC, other international organizations and networks. A pre-training assessment tool will be provided to select applicants and prepare trainees to participate actively in discussions and practical activities during the workshop. To complete this pre-training session, applicants will require approximately 70 hours of personal work during two months. The trainees will have access to these functionalities through a dedicated webpage. The on-site course (11 days) will focus on practical sessions, such as bench work, demonstrations and hands-on sessions, which will complement the theoretical part (pre-training session and lectures). The course will be held in Arusha, Tanzania.

The successful trainees will benefit from 8 ECTS (European Credits Transfer System) of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

Language: English

Who should apply: physicians, veterinarians, and specialists in infectious diseases, virology and/or epidemiology with at least a bachelor degree and preferentially a master degree. Public health officers involved in the control of zoonotic diseases are strongly encouraged to participate. Preference is given to applications from Middle East, Central Asia, North Africa and Eastern Europe followed by other rabies endemic countries. However, be aware that the selection to the course does not guarantee the VISA approval. There are no registration fees and local expenses (accommodation, food) will be covered. The organizing committee will be able to provide several travel grants on request.

Application deadline: March 15^th 2020