Rabies deaths recorded in India far lesser than estimates from ICMR-led study
The Health Ministry’s Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme-Integrated Health Information Platform is a disease surveillance system, while the Registrar General of India’s Medical Certification of Cause of Death captures medically certified causes through civil registration — this absence of a complete national count underscores the gaps in India’s rabies mortality surveillance
According to Union Health Ministry data, India recorded 55 malaria deaths, 131 dengue deaths, and 27 kala-azar deaths in 2025. However, there is no single national measure for annual human rabies mortality in India, even as the country aims to eliminate dog-mediated human rabies by 2030. A community-based study by ICMR-NIE estimated that 5,726 people die of rabies in India each year, while the Health Ministry’s IDSP-IHIP system reported 21, 50, and 54 rabies deaths in 2022, 2023, and 2024, respectively.
The Registrar General of India’s MCCD system recorded 66 and 271 rabies deaths in 2022 and 2023, respectively. The MCCD system only covers medically certified deaths, not all registered deaths, resulting in incomplete national counts. The Lancet study found substantial gaps even after considering animal bites, with only about one in 10 eligible victims receiving passive immunization.
Rabies is a vaccine-preventable disease caused by infected dog bites, with children being particularly vulnerable. The WHO estimates that India accounts for 35% of global rabies deaths, highlighting the country's significant contribution to the global burden.
Written by urgent.news from The Hindu Health's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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