The global plan Bhutan's rabies success belongs to, and what post-exposure prophylaxis means
Background
Bhutan was validated this year for eliminating dog-transmitted human rabies, and the global target it was measured against is itself exam material. Its official title is long — Global Strategic Plan to End Human Deaths from Dog-Mediated Rabies by 2030 — and it is usually called Zero by 30. Three bodies run it jointly: the World Health Organization, the World Organisation for Animal Health and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. They work on it with the Global Alliance for Rabies Control. The plan is built on the One Health framework, which treats human, animal and environmental health as one problem. The treatment at the centre of it is post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP: washing the wound thoroughly, a course of human rabies vaccine, and rabies immunoglobulins where these are indicated.
In plain words
PEP Post-exposure prophylaxis — The treatment given after a possible rabies exposure: wound washing, rabies vaccine and, where indicated, rabies immunoglobulins.
WOAH World Organisation for Animal Health — The intergovernmental body for animal health, and one of the three agencies behind Zero by 30.
One Health — An approach that treats human, animal and environmental health as a single connected problem.