When planning a vaccination area, (i) the epidemiological situation in the affected region as well as (ii) in neighbouring regions or countries, (iii) existing natural barriers, and (iv) the available budget for the upcoming years should be considered.

If the prevailing rabies situation causes a serious public and animal health threat somewhere in an endemic area, it may be politically expedient to begin the ORV campaign there.

However, whenever possible one should try to avoid a “two-front war”. This means that when planning the ORV programme, it is important to consider benefiting from existing ORV programs or rabies free areas in neighbouring regions. Also, natural barriers such as large rivers, higher elevation mountain ranges or coastlines that can hinder the natural spread of the disease and can act as natural borders for vaccination areas.

This, in turn, will help neighbouring regions to sustain their ORV programme or to maintain rabies-free status. Defining vaccination areas on the basis of administrative units is inappropriate, as foxes and rabies do not respect borders. If the budget does not allow vaccination within a minimum area for the next six consecutive years, implementation of ORV should be reconsidered until sufficient funding is available.