The World Health Organization validated Chile on Sept. 14 as the first country in South America to eliminate dog-transmitted rabies as a public health problem. Chile’s last human case from a dog came in 1972, WHO said, so the country went 54 years without one.
The Pan American Health Organization, WHO’s regional office for the Americas, announced the validation the same day. It came 10 days after WHO validated Bhutan for the same milestone. Only three countries in the world now hold the validation: Mexico, Bhutan and Chile, according to WHO’s rabies fact sheet.
What WHO Requires Before It Validates a Country
A country has to show that dog-to-human transmission has been interrupted and that no one has died of dog-mediated rabies for at least two years, according to WHO. It must also prove it can stop the disease from returning. That means working surveillance, laboratory diagnosis, animal vaccination and access to treatment for people who have been bitten.
Chile’s record of 54 years without a case is 27 times the two-year minimum. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Chile’s success offers “valuable lessons” for countries working to end human deaths from the disease.
WHO validated Chile for eliminating dog-transmitted rabies “as a public health problem,” and its announcement covers dog-mediated cases only. WHO said in its Mexico announcement that rabies virus continues to circulate among wild animals such as bats, which calls for continued monitoring and prevention.
How Chile Kept Dog Rabies Out for 54 Years
Chile’s National Rabies Prevention and Control Programme relies on free mass vaccination of dogs and cats, according to PAHO. It adds disease surveillance, stronger laboratory diagnosis, prompt post-exposure treatment and risk assessment in border areas.
News-Medical reported that the campaigns go door to door and include targeted management of dog populations. Infobae reported that the program also includes community education and free post-exposure treatment for people exposed to the virus. Chile’s health minister, May Chomalí, credited local teams. She said the achievement would not have been possible without the joint efforts of municipalities, their zoonosis teams and communities, according to dvm360. In the El Periodista account below, she said the municipalities run the field work, including education, vaccination and pet control.
The certificate reached Chile at a ceremony at the Monte Grande kennel in Las Condes, El Periodista reported. Chomalí and Public Health Undersecretary Alejandra Pizarro received it. The outlet said PAHO Director Jarbas Barbosa credited solid epidemiological surveillance, dog vaccination campaigns, timely access to preventive treatment and coordination between the public health and animal health systems. It also reported that officials emphasized Chile must keep up vaccination and surveillance to prevent the virus from returning.
Chile’s Second Elimination Recognition of 2026
The validation is Chile’s second elimination recognition this year. PAHO reported on March 4 that WHO verified Chile as the first country in the Americas, and only the second in the world after Jordan, to eliminate leprosy. Chile’s last locally acquired leprosy case came in 1993, and the 47 cases reported nationwide from 2012 to 2023 were all acquired elsewhere. PAHO said six countries in the Americas have now eliminated at least one neglected tropical disease: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Chile.
Three Validations, Three Timelines
Mexico was the first country in the world to earn the same WHO validation, in 2019, according to PAHO. It recorded 60 human cases from dogs in 1990 and three in 1999, a 95% drop in nine years. Its last two cases came in 2005 and 2006, and it kept dog vaccination coverage above 80% from the 1990s onward. Mexico went 13 years from its last case to validation.
Bhutan’s path was shorter. WHO said the country’s last human death from dog-transmitted rabies came in June 2023, which puts validation about three years and three months after the last death. Bhutan became the first country in WHO’s South-East Asia Region to reach the milestone, and WHO said the result came from more than a decade of sustained commitment to a One Health approach that links human, animal and environmental health. WHO credited a nationwide effort across all 20 districts and volunteers called De-suung, or Guardians of Peace.
A separate WHO feature story published Sept. 16 said Bhutan vaccinated more than 90% of its free-roaming dogs, against a WHO minimum of 70%, under a national program launched in 2021. It said Bhutan sterilized every free-roaming dog and gave its volunteers and livestock workers pre-exposure vaccination. Bhutan’s last human death came about two years after that program began.
Chile’s gap ran from 1972 to 2026, which is 54 years. That is more than four times Mexico’s 13 years and more than 16 times Bhutan’s three years and three months. Chile reached zero cases decades before WHO validated it, while Bhutan’s validation followed its last death within a few years.
Nilesh Buddha, WHO’s officer-in-charge for South-East Asia, said Bhutan showed that elimination is possible when leadership, a mature One Health approach and communities come together. Bhutan’s health minister credited the “visionary leadership” of the king, WHO reported.
Rabies Still Kills Tens of Thousands Elsewhere
WHO’s fact sheet puts global rabies deaths at 44,203 a year, with 40% of them children under 15. That works out to about 17,700 children. Dog bites and scratches cause 99% of human cases, and WHO says the disease is nearly always fatal once symptoms appear, though prompt treatment prevents death. The agency estimates the global cost at about $8.6 billion a year and says a course of treatment after a bite averages $108 in low-income settings.
WHO’s “Zero by 30” initiative aims to end dog-transmitted human rabies deaths worldwide by 2030. That date is about four years after Chile’s validation. WHO promotes mass dog vaccination as the most cost-effective prevention strategy and its Bhutan feature story cites 70% dog vaccination coverage as the WHO minimum.
In the Americas, human cases from dog-mediated rabies have fallen more than 98% since 1983, with only a handful reported each year, according to WHO. PAHO said Chile’s validation supports its Disease Elimination Initiative, which aims to eliminate more than 30 communicable diseases in the Americas by 2030.
