Short communication on the use of a free rabies hotline service in Chad.

As part of the activities of a project to estimate burden of rabies and vaccine demand in Chad, funded by the GAVI Alliance, we set up a free hotline service to guide the population and related public services in the event of an animal bite. This short communication presents the data collected on use of the hotline and describes the value of such a mobile phone service. Flyers, posters and radio advertisements distributed information on the hotline. Not every conversation was systematically registered, but we gathered information from 345 calls in total, including caller location and reason for the call as well as the advice and recommendation given. Although more calls were received from urban zones, the hotline was also accessed from rural locations. More than half of the calls came from the public followed by about 1/3 of calls from health workers and 10% of calls from veterinary workers. Background information on the animal bites mirror results from previous studies, especially the alarming lack of access to health and veterinary facilities in the country. Based on network provider information on incoming and outgoing calls, we estimate that on average 11 queries were handled per day. The hotline enabled the study team to give guidance to the public and to health and veterinary professionals and to monitor vaccine stock in the study areas of the project.