Background: Despite effective postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) availability, compliance with the complete vaccination schedule for Rabies remains suboptimal. To achieve the World Health Organization’s goal of zero rabies deaths by 2030, understanding factors affecting PEP compliance is crucial for developing targeted interventions. Objective: To estimate the proportion of animal bite patients receiving all antirabies vaccine doses on scheduled dates and determine factors associated with noncompliance to PEP among patients attending an animal bite clinic in North West Delhi. Methods: A mixed-method study was conducted among 383 animal bite patients visiting an animal bite clinic. Quantitative data were collected through cross-sectional surveys of patients visiting for their last vaccine dose, while qualitative data were gathered through in-depth interviews with patients who missed scheduled doses. Compliance was defined as receiving all four doses according to the recommended schedule (days 0, 3, 7, and 28). Results: Only 30.3% of patients completed all doses on time, while 69.7% experienced delays. History of previous animal bites was the only statistically significant determinant of noncompliance ( P < 0.001), with 53.2% of delayed patients having a previous bite history compared to 2.6% of compliant patients. Qualitative analysis revealed major reasons for delays, such as lack of knowledge among patients and healthcare workers, dependency on medical records, behavioral barriers, and cultural factors. Conclusion: Poor PEP compliance represents a critical gap in rabies prevention, with only one-third of patients completing vaccination on schedule. The counterintuitive finding that previous bite experience predicts noncompliance highlights the need for specialized counseling protocols.
Singh et al. (Wed,) studied this question.