Islamabad: More than 600,000 people have been bitten by stray dogs across Pakistan so far in 2025, according to official surveillance data and provincial figures, with Sindh and Punjab together accounting for the overwhelming bulk of cases and women and children emerging as the most frequent victims.
Data compiled from weekly Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response bulletins of the National Institute of Health show that Sindh alone reported around 284,000 dog bite cases during the year to date, a sharp upward revision from earlier tallies. Nearly 40 percent of these cases, roughly 110,000 to 115,000 incidents, were reported from Karachi, underscoring the scale of the crisis in Pakistan’s largest city.
Health officials and public health experts warn that even these alarming figures represent only a fraction of the true burden, as dog bite cases in Pakistan are widely underreported. Many victims, particularly in low income urban settlements and rural areas, either seek treatment from private clinics, turn to traditional healers, or do not report bites at all.
Based on patterns of health seeking behaviour and gaps in disease surveillance, experts estimate that the actual number of dog bite incidents in 2025 could be anywhere between one million and 1.5 million nationwide, making stray dog bites one of the most neglected yet widespread public health threats in the country.
Punjab, which does not report dog bite cases to the federal surveillance system, separately recorded about 277,000 incidents by October 30, 2025, according to government data cited in regional media. This translates into an average of more than 900 dog bite cases every day in the province. Eight confirmed rabies deaths were also reported from Punjab this year, the highest annual figure on record.
Together, Sindh and Punjab account for more than 560,000 dog bite cases, while data reported to NIH from the rest of the country push the national total well beyond 600,000 cases in just ten months.
Outside Sindh and Punjab, NIH data show that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reported roughly 44,000 dog bite cases between January and November, while Balochistan recorded close to 8,000 incidents. Azad Jammu and Kashmir reported just over 5,000 cases, Gilgit Baltistan a few hundred, and the Islamabad Capital Territory only a small number each month.
Health officials say women and children make up the majority of bite victims nationwide, particularly in dense urban neighbourhoods, informal settlements and areas with poor waste management where stray dogs thrive. Children are especially vulnerable due to outdoor play and school commutes, while women are often bitten during routine household or caregiving activities.
Federal health officials have repeatedly flagged Punjab’s absence from the national disease surveillance system as a major weakness. Despite being the most populous province, Punjab does not share dog bite data through the IDSR mechanism, limiting the federal government’s ability to plan vaccine procurement, anticipate outbreaks and assess rabies risk accurately.
Experts warn that every dog bite is a potential rabies exposure and must be treated as a medical emergency. Based on the more than 600,000 reported bite incidents this year, Pakistan would have required at least an equivalent number of anti rabies vaccine doses, even under the most conservative assumptions.
Using prevailing government procurement costs, vaccinating dog bite victims alone would cost hundreds of millions of rupees, without accounting for rabies immunoglobulin, repeat dosing, cold chain logistics and hospital care. Public health specialists say the real economic burden is significantly higher, particularly in large cities like Karachi where health facilities are already overstretched.
Despite rabies being entirely preventable, Pakistan continues to report human deaths each year, largely due to delayed treatment, incomplete vaccination and weak control of stray dog populations. Experts say fragmented municipal responsibility, poor waste disposal and the absence of coordinated dog vaccination and sterilisation programmes have allowed the problem to spiral.
They warn that unless provinces align surveillance, invest in preventive measures and treat rabies as a public health priority rather than a municipal nuisance, dog bite cases and preventable deaths will continue to rise.
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