World Rabies Day 2017

Thanks to everyone who submitted rabies samples for testing on World Rabies Day we have raised a total of £250 to support the fantastic work of the Global Alliance for Rabies Control. At the global conference on rabies elimination in 2015, a common goal of zero human deaths from canine rabies by 2030 was agreed by the World Health Organization, World Organisation for Animal Health, UN Food and Agriculture Organization and GARC. In support of this goal, the 2017 World Rabies Day theme was Rabies: Zero by 30. An estimated 59,000 people die of rabies every year, primarily in poor rural communities in Africa and Asia. Almost all of them contracted rabies from a dog infected with the rabies virus. Rabies has the highest fatality rate of any disease (close to 100%) and around 40% of those who die from rabies’ agonizing symptoms are children. Reporting of these deaths is extremely poor as rabies has its highest impacts in the most neglected populations, farthest from medical and veterinary services. Yet the disease is entirely preventable. We have safe and effective vaccines to protect people, animals and their livestock from rabies, even if they have already been exposed to the virus. These deaths are all preventable. The Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) exists to end the inequality that allows neglected communities to continue to suffer from an ancient and terrifying, but completely preventable, disease.