In Ethiopia, rabies has been recorded since 1903 and it is prioritized among top zoonotic diseases. It causes deaths of 6,000-10,000 persons per annual with 3.4/100,000 national incidence of human rabies exposure. However, combined evidences on rabies was lacking and hence, it has been difficult to inform community and policymakers in the fight against human and animal rabies. Therefore, this review was conducted on 22 papers and 8 reports and combined evidences on institutional, technical and systemic practical challenges which hinder rabies control and prevention in Ethiopia were generated. The review revealed that role of wildlife in carrying and transmitting rabies virus is not yet well understood. There is inadequate knowledge among the public, human and animal health professionals on dog vaccination and the value of timely post exposure treatment in people, responsible dog ownership, dog population management and dog bite management. Moreover, traditional treatments of rabies suspected human and animal cases remains common. Low investment on rabies control and prevent, limited access to quality rabies vaccines, absence of meaningful linkage between human and animal health, limited dog and wildlife healthcare services are also identified as critical challenges. Moreover, lack of rabies diagnostic capacities and facilities, inadequate institutional setup and legal frameworks were described as other major bottlenecks in the fight against rabies. Therefore, it is highly recommended to solve the identified practical challenges of rabies control and prevention. Most importantly, application of One Health approaches is utmost promising to achieve expected outcomes.

Yohannes Tekle Asfaw has completed his PhD at the age of 38 years from Mekelle University and his PhD research was hosted at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). He is Research and Community Engagement Officer, Editor-in-Chief of a journal in his college. He published about 35 papers in reputed journals.