Rabies is a zoonotic disease caused by a Lyssavirus, Family Rhabdovirus. The infection clinically manifests as fulminating encephalomyelitis. The disease remains a public health threat worldwide, with about 15.69 million people potentially exposed to the virus annually, requiring post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), and an estimated 59,000 human deaths. Nearly all human rabies cases are reported from the developing countries of Africa and Asia. Data showing the burden of rabies in Tanzania remains scanty owing to the lack of a systematic reporting mechanism. Rabies disease kills an estimated 500 people annually in Malawi, with more deaths occurring in children. There is potential for underestimating rabies, as most cases remain undiagnosed, hence untreated, and unreported. This paradigm is driven by an absence of a national rabies control programme, inadequate laboratory infrastructure as well a lack of a surveillance system. Furthermore, the burden of human rabies due to dog bites is on the rise because of poor intersectoral collaboration between human and animal health. Diagnosis of rabies remains poor due to the non-existence of such services in many African countries, where access to such services in rural and remote areas in catchment areas for pastoralist communities is key. Associated with the lack of diagnostic services, surveillance activities are also poor, consequently leading to a misappreciation of the impact of rabies on affected communities. The African continent still faces numerous challenges in achieving zero dog-mediated rabies deaths by 2030. The data produced by well-established surveillance systems support health policymakers to establish the burden of rabies morbidity, mortality, and other associated complications and lobby for sustained surveillance and control and prevention programs. For example, such data is crucial to guide strategies for effective interventions including among others access and availability of anti-rabies vaccines. In Malawi, some community sensitization and mobilization have been initiated to report animal bites mostly from dogs, and any sudden occurrence of deaths of domestic dogs or humans who might have experienced a dog bite. While some data exist for countries like Tanzania, Uganda, and Ghana, it is important to note that this information is made available only through routine surveillance, and most of these cases reported are not laboratory confirmed due to a lack of diagnostic facilities. Often, diagnosis is done mainly using a syndromic approach because of the lack of readily available diagnostic capability in the country. For this reason, developing accurate point-of-care diagnostics tests (POCTs) for rabies based on temporo-spatial data is user-friendly and would make a significant difference in early detection, reporting, and making clinical decisions among individuals presumed to have been exposed to rabies virus at the community level. Furthermore, an integrated rabies surveillance, One Health surveillance, and response system are thus essential.