In theory, rabies surveillance should be conducted in regions where potential rabies reservoir hosts are abundant and there is suspicion or evidence that rabies is present. However, rabies surveillance can be suboptimal in regions with a low human and/or animal population density.

Surveillance may be severely hampered in particular remote areas or regions difficult to access. A poor medical and veterinary infrastructure may make this task even more difficult. Proper solutions for these regions have yet to be developed, but analysis of surveillance data can highlight where sampling is insufficient