The Japan-Philippines One Health Rabies (JAPOHR) project, which significantly boosted rabies control efforts in the Philippines, is set to expand through a new initiative, the Project for Implementation of Rapid Rabies Diagnosis and Rapid Responses nationwide, it was learned Monday.
Running from 2018 to 2023, JAPOHR introduced rapid test kits developed by Japan’s Oita University, reducing rabies testing time from hours to minutes, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) said in a news release.
“Despite being 100% preventable, rabies remains a persistent public health concern in the Philippines. Traditional approaches to controlling the disease have relied heavily on human vaccination, but without targeted interventions for animal rabies, transmission cycles remained unbroken,” JICA said.
Beyond testing, JAPOHR improved how rabies cases are tracked and reported.
“The project established the Rabies Data Share System (RaDSS), an internet-based platform that enabled local and national authorities to visualize outbreaks, monitor disease trends, and coordinate containment strategies in real time,” JICA said.
“By the end of the project, RaDSS had been introduced to 69 LGUs and 18 rabies remote laboratories across 11 regions in the Philippines,” it added.
Through this data-driven system, over 200 rabies cases were detected and immediately shared with health officials, allowing for rapid containment measures such as mass vaccination campaigns and public advisories.
The initiative’s success is especially notable in Bulacan, where rabies case detection quadrupled, allowing for better-targeted vaccination efforts. Now, the new project will scale up these innovations, aiming to eliminate rabies by 2030.
With rapid diagnostics and expanded use of RaDSS across all 19 Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratories (RADDLs), the Philippines is poised to tackle rabies more swiftly and accurately.
This continued collaboration between government agencies, local units, and health experts is vital to achieving a rabies-free future.
“By combining science, technology, and collaboration, JAPOHR has reshaped rabies control in the Philippines. It is setting new standards for disease management, proving that with the right tools and coordinated action, the country can move closer to a rabies-free future,” JICA said.
