Rabies research in Uganda – A scoping review

TL;DR

This paper maps rabies research in Uganda to identify gaps and guide future studies for rabies control and elimination.

Contribution

The study provides a comprehensive overview of rabies research in Uganda and identifies key research gaps.

Findings

Most studies focused on human populations and used descriptive cross-sectional designs.

Only two studies used laboratory methods for rabies virus characterization.

There is a lack of integrated surveillance systems and economic evaluations in rabies research in Uganda.

Abstract

Rabies remains endemic in Uganda and is a priority zoonotic disease due to its significant public health burden. Although Uganda has committed to eliminating dog-mediated human rabies deaths by 2030, operational and financial challenges persist. A key gap is the lack of a focused research agenda and insufficient funding for its implementation, highlighting the need to map existing research to guide future priorities. This scoping review, thus, aimed at describing and mapping the existing research on rabies in Uganda by identifying, categorizing, and summarizing existing research, while highlighting research gaps to guide future studies and support evidence-based interventions for rabies control and elimination. The scoping review followed PRISMA-ScR guidelines and was registered with the Open Science Framework. A systematic search of PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase databases yielded 110 studies after deduplication. Following screening, 26 original studies regarding rabies research that were based in Uganda were included in the review. Most of these studies were descriptive cross-sectional in design (n = 15), including knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) studies (n = 5), and surveys and interviews (n = 10). Most studies focused on human populations (n = 21). Six studies adopted a One Health approach integrating human and animal health sectors. Only two studies employed laboratory methods for molecular characterisation of circulating rabies virus strains, and one study used interventional design to assess vaccination coverage. Notably, no studies implemented consistent and integrated rabies surveillance systems or included economic evaluations of rabies control programs. Our scoping review highlights critical gaps in rabies research in Uganda, particularly the need for intervention-based and longitudinal studies that operationalize the One Health framework. Key areas of research needs include dog vaccination coverage, integrated surveillance systems, diagnostics, and economic evaluations to assess the impact of rabies control and prevention programs. Addressing these gaps is essential for understanding rabies transmission dynamics and strengthening control strategies.

Scoping review registration: https://osf.io/wu5pj

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