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PROCUREMENT OF RABIES VACCINES NOW GOVT’S PRIORITY

By Majaha Nkonyane | 2018-10-02

THE ministry of agriculture has reassured the nation it will continue to prioritise procurement of rabies vaccines.

This was voiced out by Director of Agriculture Nelson Mavuso during the commemoration of World Rabies Day at Lobamba on Saturday.

“Let me place it on record again that rabies vaccines are available and enough for all dogs in the country. What remains is for all the dogs not yet vaccinated to be presented for vaccination as soon as possible,” he said.

Mavuso urged the public to safeguards against ownerless or unsupervised dogs that have no one to present them for vaccination. In the event such dogs are seen, Mavuso also urged the community police and any responsible authority to make sure they are caught and vaccinated or removed from the community.

According to Mavuso, rabies kills up to 60 000 people each year and half of whom are children below 15 years of age. “A total of 1 208 humans were bitten by dogs in 2017, the dog bite victims were referred to hospitals for treatment. In 75 per cent of the cases, rabies was indicated due to lack of vaccination history for the dog while 81 per cent of the bites occurred in major towns with Mbabane and Manzini recording the highest incidence,” he said.

Mavuso also said in 2015, the world called for action against rabies and set a goal of zero human dog mediated rabies deaths by 2030 worldwide. “The action is led by the world health organisation (WHO), the world organisation for animal health (OIE) and the Global Alliance for rabies control (GARC) which provides support to national rabies control programmes globally,” he said.

Mavuso said the zero by 30 campaign targets to efficiently prevent and respond to rabies though effective use of vaccines, generate innovate and measure impact through policies, governance and effective decision making in the fight against rabies. 

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