Four Reported Dead as Adjumani Grapples With Anti-Rabies Vaccine Shortage

What the report says

Nile Post reported that at least four people, most of them children, have allegedly died of suspected rabies in Uganda’s Adjumani District, where residents say anti-rabies vaccines have been difficult to obtain at government health facilities. The deaths were reported in Arinyapi, Leanguru, Nyabila and Itirikwa sub-counties, with earlier accounts also citing two children who died after suspected dog bites in Aliwara and nearby Leanguru villages.

Local leaders described rising anxiety over stray dog attacks and the cost of private treatment. Charles Edema Drabe, the LC I chairperson of Aliwara Village, said attacks by stray dogs had become more frequent, including one incident in Oruangwa Village where seven people were bitten and later received treatment. Caesar Ingavure, an Aliwara resident whose son reportedly died after a suspected rabies exposure last year, said poor families remain at risk when public facilities do not have vaccines.

Adjumani Resident District Commissioner Swaib Toko said he had reported both the increase in dog-bite cases and the vaccine shortage to relevant authorities, and hoped new government medical supplies would include anti-rabies doses. He also joined a District Veterinary Department official at Adjumani Catholic Parish on Sunday to urge residents to report bites quickly and seek care immediately.

District officials said demand for anti-rabies vaccines has grown while government supply remains inadequate. Production Officer Godfrey Mamawi Ambayo said Adjumani has gone nearly two years without government anti-rabies vaccine stock, disrupting animal vaccination work; he added that about 70 stray dogs had been killed and that officials were weighing open-market vaccine purchases. Rabies is preventable if post-exposure treatment is started promptly, making vaccine access a critical public health issue.