Kyrgyzstan is a country in Central Asia; It borders upon China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Kyrgyzstan is one of the poorest countries in the former Soviet Union. The Kyrgyz Republic is one of the poorest countries in Central Asia, with GDP per head of $ 980 in 2015.

About 12% of population still lives in conditions of chronic food shortage, about 37% of population lives below the level of poverty (1,9 USD per day) [źródło]. The most important branch of Kyrgyz economy is agriculture. The share of agriculture in the GDP structure of the country is 25%, giving employment to one third of the country's population.

Kyrgyzstan has an estimated 200,000-strong stray dog population. As a part of the fight against over-population of dogs in 2012. 12,406 homeless dogs were shot [źródło]. Existing Kyrgyz shelters cannot provide a suitable places for all homeless dogs. It is necessary to introduce human and economic ways to reduce the population of dogs.

The main public health threats of the excessive, growing up population of homeless dogs, are echinococcosis and rabies. Both of these diseases are included in the list of 9 priority diseases included in the Animal Health Strategy Plan for the years 2016-2020 [źródło].

Rabies is an incurable, mortal infectious disease caused by a biting by wild or domestic animal being its carrier. The infection occurs by transferring the virus with saliva to the bite (usually) wound. Rabies is enzootic in Kyrgyzstan, predominantly in the southern provinces. The main vector for rabies in Kyrgyzstan is the domestic dog. In 2011, Kyrgyzstan reported 38 cases of rabies in dogs, in 2012 - 49 dogs died from, in 2013 - 43 dog rabies cases. A recent global burden of rabies study estimates that 11 people die from rabies every year. 10,000 to 12,000 people are seeking post-exposure treatment every year [źródło].

Echinococcosis is a parasitic disease caused by larval form of Echinococcus granulosus or less common E. multilocularis in human. The parasite reservoir and the source of the infection are domestic animals (dogs, cats) and wild animals (foxes, wolves) that excrete eggs in faeces to the environment.