Cost Optimization of the Intensified Rabies Control Program in Davao City, Philippines Using Linear Programming

Abstract

Davao City, the largest city in the Philippines with 11 legislative districts, is among the top cities with high rabies incidence. To eliminate the rabies incidence, the City Veterinarian’s Office (CVO) has been implementing the Intensified Rabies Control Program (IRCP) that is composed of mass dog vaccination, dog neutering, dog impounding, and information and education campaigns (IEC). In this paper, we formulated a linear programming (LP) model that minimizes the IRCP operational cost while satisfying the different targets set by the CVO for each of the IRCP component as well as its allocated budget. From the analysis, the CVO should be lessening the number of dogs to be vaccinated in districts whose vaccine coverage is already above 70%. This is to ensure that the number of dogs to be vaccinated in other districts can be increased and achieve 70% vaccine coverage. However, the model suggests that it is optimal that 90% of the dogs in the Talomo district (the most populous district in the city) should be vaccinated. Furthermore, with the 24:1 ratio of the number of vaccinated dogs to the impounded dogs, it is optimal to neuter one dog for every 239 vaccinated dogs. Additionally, the model suggests impounding more dogs to highly populated districts. Lastly, the model suggests maintaining the average number of IEC participants. By doing these interventions firmly, dogs in Davao City can potentially achieve herd immunity, and the human’s risk to contract rabies will be lowered.