Indonesia has a complex rabies situation with some islands endemically infected, other free of rabies since an eradication program in 1997, and others where rabies has recently reemerged (eg the island of Bali).

The Alliance is supporting an education program being developed and delivered by the Livestock Service Office of Sukabumi District and the Center for Indonesian Veterinary Analytical Studies (CIVAS). The targeted audiences are children and the wild boar hunters. Children were chosen as they are most often the victims of dog bites, and they easily receive new information and spread it. The wild boar hunting society is also a focus because they often refuse rabies vaccination for their dogs, believing that it will weaken them. These dogs are often exposed to local wild species in the forests and are therefore at high risk of spreading rabies infection.

The program focuses on 5 villages and will run from December 2009 to December 2010.

Several models for education on rabies prevention are being developed for both target audiences with the hope that the most effective one could be found. Different presentations and materials (oral presentations, a flip chart presentation, a booklet, a comic book and an animated movie (pictured)) have been developed for use in elementary, junior high and high schools and for the hunting community and the effectiveness of holding more than one session is also being evaluated. The children are tested before and after the programme to asses the intervention's success. Early indication show that all levels of school children have increased they rabies knowledge.

June 2010: An interim report containing all the educational materials developed to date is available here.