Rabies is a disease caused by lyssa virus; it is transmitted by a bite by an infected mammal most commonly dogs (but also wild dogs, Wolf, foxes and cats). Rabies is endemic to all districts in the country.

Over the past sixty years rabies has been in Tanzania with a tendency of increasing in its magnitude despite the efforts to control it.  As with other diseases rabies started off confined to a small area and was able to be controlled but later resurfaced and by the 1980s the whole country was affected. Rabies is one of the notifiable diseases in Tanzania but available data is scattered and incomplete. The MOHSW report from the regions from year 1992 to 2010 indicates there were about 59,896 dog bites and 350 deaths. The actual number of cases is suspected to be much higher. The distribution of rabies exposure and deaths reported from government and mission health facilities in the country indicate how the disease is widely spread in the country The control measures, which have been in, place are; vaccinations of dogs, destruction of stray dogs and provision of post exposure prophylaxis for people bitten by suspected rabid dogs/animals.