In this feature, HealthforAnimals Executive Director Carel du Marchie Sarvaas, talks through the target agreed by the World Health Organization, the World Organisation for Animal Health, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (which coordinates World Rabies Day), which is to reduce human deaths from canine rabies to zero by 2030. While many health professionals think of rabies as a problem of the past, the 2030 target highlights the devastating impact the disease still has in many parts of the world. Africa and Asia account for 99 per cent of human deaths from a disease that disproportionately impacts poor, rural communities.