Reaching dogs missed by vaccination campaigns
Worldwide Veterinary Service (WVS) will provide veterinary specialists and field teams to help reach free-roaming dogs and other hard-to-access populations. The funding will also support integrated rabies surveillance to detect outbreaks early and training for veterinary and public health teams.
The work will build on efforts by Thailand's Department of Livestock Development and its provincial offices, rather than replace them. The partnership aims to protect millions of people and animals by reaching remaining high-risk populations and strengthening the country's national One Health response capabilities.
Training will include work at the WVS International Training Centre in Chiang Mai. WVS opened the new facility on March 18, 2025, and projects that it will increase the number of veterinarians trained by 25% and animals treated by 30%. The organization has trained veterinarians in Thailand since 2015; its Thai team treated more than 8,000 animals in 2024.
Dr. Luke Gamble, WVS founder and chief executive, called rabies "one of the few major global health challenges we know how to end." He described the last stage of elimination as "hot, slow, unglamorous work, going street by street and village by village to find the dogs everyone else misses," saying this is where elimination succeeds or fails. He said the grant would support sharper surveillance and more veterinary training in Chiang Mai, and that success in Thailand could provide a blueprint for the region.
Thailand's 2030 goal and remaining rabies burden
Thailand has committed to ending dog-mediated human rabies by 2030, aligning with the WHO/WOAH/FAO "Zero by 30" initiative. Its national "Disease-free Animals, Safe Humans from Rabies" program operates under the Royal Initiative and emphasizes One Health collaboration between the Department of Disease Control and the Department of Livestock Development.
The April 2025 Weekly Epidemiological Surveillance Report recorded eight human rabies deaths from 2024 through the first quarter of 2025. They occurred in Bangkok, Samut Prakan, Chon Buri, Buriram, Surin, Sisaket, Mae Hong Son and Tak.
Animal testing also continued to identify infections. In 2024, authorities confirmed 305 animal rabies cases among 6,130 animals tested, a positivity rate of 4.98%. From January through March 2025, 97 of 1,678 tested animals were positive, or 5.78%.
Thailand has tested a combined vaccination approach in a limited pilot. Starting in early 2024, oral rabies vaccines were used alongside parenteral vaccination in three high-risk Chonburi districts: Banglamung, Siracha and Sattahip. A Department of Livestock Development update presented at the 2025 United Against Rabies meeting reported that targeted dogs received 7,785 oral doses and 418 parenteral doses, achieving average coverage of about 81%. The update said new rabies cases in those districts declined significantly afterward.
Prevention and the fund's priorities
Improving companion animal wellbeing is one of the Mars Impact Fund's three priorities, alongside making sourcing communities more resilient and developing the next generation of scientists. Michelle Grogg, the fund's executive director, said the WVS partnership and its Mission Rabies program put prevention first, supporting both veterinary capacity and the systems that protect animals and their communities.
Dr. Susan Wan, veterinary expert and cluster director for Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand at Mars Petcare SEA, said preventable rabies still threatens pets and families across the region. She said focusing on the final stage of prevention in Thailand would address the root cause of transmission and protect vulnerable free-roaming dogs. Dr. Chadon Suwanarit, managing director of Royal Canin Thailand, said WVS would contribute the specialist training and veterinary teams needed to put the national effort into practice.
Mars, whose pet care brands include ROYAL CANIN, PEDIGREE, WHISKAS and CESAR, said the partnership announcement followed a THB 7 billion investment in Thailand announced earlier that month.
Mission Rabies' wider work
WVS reported in its 2025 annual snapshot that Mission Rabies vaccinated more than 2.1 million animals against rabies during the year, while its education programs reached more than 4.9 million people.
According to WVS, rabies kills one person every nine minutes, and bites from infected dogs account for 99% of human rabies deaths worldwide.
