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Millien et al. One Health Implement Res 2023;3:148-60 One Health &
DOI: 10.20517/ohir.2023.37
Implementation Research

Review Open Access

A brief history of rabies in Haiti until the adoption of
the One Health approach for its epidemiological

surveillance and control

3
Max François Millien 1 , Henry Robert Duclair 2 , Fritzner Suprême , Pierre Dilius Augustin 3
1
Laboratory of Zoonoses and Food-borne Diseases, Quisqueya University (UniQ), Port-au-Prince HT 6110, HaIti.
2
Central Structure Health Sciences Faculty, Quisqueya University, Port-au-Prince 6110, Haiti.
3
Department of Animal Health, Ministry of Agriculture, Port-au-Prince HT 6310, HaIti.
Correspondence to: Dr. Max François Millien, Laboratory of Zoonoses and Food-borne Diseases, Quisqueya University (UniQ),
218, Av. Jean Paul 2, Haut Turgeau, Port-au-Prince HT 6110, HaIti. E-mail: maxfrancoismillien@gmail.com
How to cite this article: Millien MF, Duclair HR, Suprême F, Augustin PD. A brief history of rabies in Haiti until the adoption of
the One Health approach for its epidemiological surveillance and control. One Health Implement Res 2023;3:148-60. https://dx.
doi.org/10.20517/ohir.2023.37

Received: 18 Aug 2023 First Decision: 27 Oct 2023 Revised: 7 Dec 2023 Accepted: 12 Dec 2023 Published: 27 Dec 2023
Academic Editors: Charles E. Rupprecht, Jose M. Martin-Moreno Copy Editor: Dong-Li Li Production Editor: Dong-Li Li

Abstract
Rabies was first identified in dogs and humans by a French veterinarian, Jean Lompagieu Lapole, in 1788 in the
colony of Saint-Domingue, which later became Haiti. Rabies has continued to persist in the country despite some
intermittent successes in combating this disease over the past 20 years. We are trying to understand why rabies,
which has officially existed in the country for around 250 years, is still classified as a neglected disease and
continues to result in cases of human mortality. For a significant period, until the implementation of the Haiti
Animal Rabies Surveillance Program (HARSP) in 2011, there was no robust initiative to fight against rabies based on
regular vaccination campaigns and an effective epidemiological surveillance system despite certain efforts made by
the Ministry of Agriculture and Pan American Health Organization Project of Strengthening Public Agricultural
Services (RESEPAG): Projet de Renforcement des Services publics Agricoles (PAHO) to increase dog vaccinations.
The HARSP program was established with technical assistance from the Center for Disease Prevention and Control
of Infectious Diseases (CDC) to control and eliminate rabies in the short term, according to the One Health
approach. It was a passive surveillance system based on strengthening the rabies diagnostic capacity of the
Veterinary Laboratory, training veterinary and public health technicians, and supporting rabies vaccination
campaigns. This approach has resulted in effective cooperation between the Ministry of Agriculture and the
Ministry of Public Health based on the “One Health” enabling the Ministry of Public Health to report daily on bite to

© The Author(s) 2023. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
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