The Kenya Veterinary Association has called for more efforts to reduce deaths caused by rabies. World Rabies Day will be marked tomorrow.
KVA said 2,000 people in Kenya die from rabies annually despite it being preventable. The association has organised awareness drives today and tomorrow.
Chairman Samuel Kahariri said the disease kills more than 60,000 people worldwide annually with 95 per cent of deaths being in Africa and Asia.
He said all dogs should be vaccinated and awareness created. Kahariri said many domestic dogs have rabies and cause 99 per cent of deaths in human beings.
“Rabies is a neglected zoonotic disease which is invariably fatal in humans, livestock and other mammals,” he said. Kahariri said children are the most vulnerable. He called for an integrated approach among stakeholders to stop the spread of rabies. “The World Rabies Day seeks to raise awareness about the impact of human and animal rabies, prevention and control and elimination of the disease in animals and humans,” Kahariri said.
“Unlike the deaths from big-name diseases, each of the rabies deaths is 100 per cent preventable.”
