World Rabies Day 2027 is on Tuesday

About World Rabies Day

Rabies infects mammals, including dogs, cats, livestock and wildlife, and reaches people through saliva, usually from a bite or scratch. According to WHO, dogs are behind up to 99% of human cases, the disease kills tens of thousands of people a year, mostly in Asia and Africa, and about 40% of those deaths are children under 15. Once the virus reaches the brain and symptoms appear, rabies is virtually always fatal. Before that point, washing the wound and getting a course of rabies vaccine, sometimes with immunoglobulin, can stop it.

The Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) set up World Rabies Day in 2007 as a joint initiative with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with WHO and the World Organisation for Animal Health as co-sponsors. Apart from that first year, it has been held on September 28, the anniversary of the death of Louis Pasteur in 1895. Pasteur developed the first rabies vaccine. GARC still coordinates the day and runs an online map where organizers register events, from dog vaccination clinics to school lessons.

The day supports a wider goal. In 2015, WHO, WOAH, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and GARC backed a target of zero human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030, and the four partners later launched a global strategic plan, Zero by 30, in 2018. GARC chose "Stronger Together" as the theme for 2026, a call for human and animal health services to coordinate their work.

Sources: World Health Organization: World Rabies Day, World Health Organization: Rabies fact sheet, Global Alliance for Rabies Control: World Rabies Day, Balaram et al., World Rabies Day: a decade of raising awareness (Tropical Diseases, Travel Medicine and Vaccines, 2016), World Organisation for Animal Health: Rabies. How we check dates.

How to mark World Rabies Day

• Check that your dogs and cats are up to date on rabies vaccination, and book a vet visit if they aren't.
• Teach children not to approach unfamiliar, stray or wild animals, and to tell an adult right away about any bite or scratch.
• If an animal bites or scratches you, wash the wound with soap and water for at least 15 minutes and get medical advice the same day.
• Before traveling, ask a doctor or travel clinic whether rabies is a risk at your destination and whether you need a vaccine.
• Look up a free or low-cost pet vaccination clinic near you, or help a neighbor get their pet there.
• Find or register a local event on GARC's World Rabies Day map.

World Rabies Day dates