Childhood Rabies Deaths and the Rule of Rescue

David Durrheim

doi:10.3390/tropicalmed2020009

Childhood Rabies Deaths and the Rule of Rescue

Trop Med Infect Dis. 2017 Apr 17;2(2):9. doi: 10.3390/tropicalmed2020009.

Author

David Durrheim^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales 2387, Australia. David.Durrheim@newcastle.edu.au.
² College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Queensland 4814, Australia. David.Durrheim@newcastle.edu.au.

Abstract

Every childhood rabies death is potentially preventable. The vaccine that prevents rabies disease has a formidable safety and efficacy track record. Rabies vaccination of dogs and timely pre-and post-exposure vaccine administration are life-saving and cost-effective, and yet nearly 60,000 people, mainly children, die unnecessarily each year. Poor performance by many veterinary and public health systems, and neglect by complicit authorities is in stark contravention of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The ethical principle of beneficence and the rule of rescue demand re-energised commitment to eradicating childhood rabies deaths.

Keywords: beneficence; child; death; ethics; immunization; rabies; rescue; rights; vaccination.