Community knowledge, practices, and dog management toward rabies in Hung Yen province, Vietnam: Insights for strengthening One Health interventions toward the 2030 zero-death goal

Vet World Vol.18 November-2025 Article - 16

Research Article

Veterinary World, 18(11): 3509-3519

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2025.3509-3519

Thi Thu Tra Vu¹

, Thi Ngan Mai²

, Van Hieu Dong¹

, Ha Thai Truong²

, Thi Thanh Tran³

, and Harish Kumar Tiwari^4,5

1. Department of Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Hanoi, Vietnam.

2. Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Hanoi, Vietnam.

3. Pharmaceutical and Veterinary Material Company, Hung Yen, Vietnam.

4. Jyoti and Bhupat Mehta School of Health Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, Assam, India.

5. Sydney Medical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Background and Aim: Rabies remains a fatal but preventable zoonotic disease causing nearly 59,000 human deaths annually worldwide, including approximately 75 cases/year in Vietnam. Despite the National Rabies Prevention and Control Program (2022–2030) targeting zero human deaths, community-level awareness and responsible dog management remain key determinants of program success. This study assessed knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to rabies prevention and dog management among residents of Hung Yen province.

Materials and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted among 210 residents from Khoai Chau, Van Lam, and Yen My districts between November and December 2022. Data were collected using a structured, pre-tested questionnaire covering demographics, rabies knowledge, and dog ownership practices. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests were performed in R software, with p < 0.05 considered statistically significant.

Results: Among 210 respondents, 82.4% had heard of rabies, and 60.7% demonstrated good knowledge. Most knew that dog bites transmit rabies (97.7%), but 39.9% were unaware that scratches can also cause infection. More than half (52.6%) still believed traditional remedies could prevent rabies, and 39.7% did not seek medical care after dog bites. Younger respondents (18–40 years) had significantly better knowledge (odds ratio = 1.90; p = 0.04). Among 85 dog owners, 82.4% vaccinated their dogs, yet 21.2% allowed dogs to roam freely, and 91.8% did not spay or castrate them. Higher socioeconomic status and urban residence were associated with better dog management practices.

Conclusion: Despite Hung Yen’s low rabies fatality, notable gaps persist in community awareness and responsible pet ownership. Misconceptions about transmission routes and reliance on traditional treatment threaten progress toward the 2030 rabies-free goal. Strengthened One Health-based education, targeting older adults and low-income rural groups, is recommended to promote timely post-exposure prophylaxis and sustainable dog vaccination and population control programs.

Keywords: dog management, Hung Yen, knowledge, One Health, practices, rabies, Vietnam.

How to cite this article: Vu TTT, Mai TN, Dong VH, Truong HT, Tran TT, and Tiwari HK (2025) Community knowledge, practices, and dog management toward rabies in Hung Yen province, Vietnam: Insights for strengthening One Health interventions toward the 2030 zero-death goal, Veterinary World, 18(11): 3509-3519.

Received: 03-06-2025 Accepted: 16-10-2025 Published online: 27-11-2025

Corresponding author: Thi Thu Tra Vu E-mail: vutra@vnua.edu.vn

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2025.3509-3519

Copyright: Vu, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.