Let’s make rabies a thing of the past

For over 4,000 years, rabies has plagued humans and animals alike around the world, and to this day, it remains one of the deadliest zoonoses.

Rabies is a zoonotic viral infection transmitted through bites and scratches of infected animals. It is a global public health problem and is estimated to cause over 55,000 human deaths annually worldwide, with 56 per cent of these global human deaths recorded in Africa.

In Ghana, the rabies virus has been identified in dogs, cats, monkeys, bats, cattle, sheep and goats.

Dogs are, however, said to be the most contributing source of over 94 per cent of cases across the country.

With a fatality rate of almost 100 per cent in humans and animals alike, rabies remains a global threat, killing approximately 59,000 people every year.

In Ghana, rabies continues to be fatal as in any other country across the world. The Daily Graphic, on Friday, September 20, reported that as of September 18, this year, rabies had killed 26 people out of 31 who were affected.

Between 2009 and 2011, a total of 25 human deaths from rabies were recorded. This escalated to 57 deaths in 2016.

Also, between 2020 and 2023, there were 793 suspected cases of human rabies reported, resulting in 77 deaths, while in 2023, 331 suspected cases were recorded, with the Greater Accra Region recording 112 cases and the Western Region 102, accounting for 64.65 per cent of the cases across the country for that period.

According to veterinarian, controlling and eliminating the deadly zoonosis meant combatting it at its animal source.

The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) has long been committed to tackling the disease, supporting its members in the path towards a rabies-free future.

Marked every September 28, the theme for this year’s World Rabies Day, “Breaking Rabies Boundaries”, invites us to think outside the box and shatter the barriers that stand in the way of rabies elimination.

These include gaps in international cooperation, a lack of access to essential resources, including quality vaccines and limited public knowledge about the disease.

The disease is endemic to all continents, with Africa and Asia said to be carrying the most burden as it threatens over three billion people.

The Daily Graphic, therefore, calls on all to see this year’s World Rabies Day as an opportunity to raise awareness and advocate the elimination of the disease in the country.

This year, with the theme: “Breaking Rabies Boundaries”, it aims at encouraging stakeholders, organisations and people from every walk of life to unite to reach the goal of zero rabies deaths by 2030 #ZeroBy30.

This year’s theme also reminds us that rabies is a transboundary disease that requires transboundary action.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), the World Health Organisation(WHO) as well as other well-meaning bodies have used a One Health approach to bring together governments, vaccine producers, researchers, non-governmental organisations and development partners to stop the disease.

The Chief Veterinary Officer, Dr Emmanuel Allegye-Cudjoe, at the launch of this year’s celebration in Accra, made a clarion call for all to help kick rabies out of the country by 2040.

According to him, what was making the disease thrive most in the country was the number of stray dogs found on our streets.

He inferred that stray dogs were surviving on our streets due to the number of waste found littered all around. He, therefore, called for a concerted effort by all stakeholders to keep the country clean.

The Daily Graphic lends its voice to the call and urges all to help keep our surroundings clean to ensure that stray dogs do not get breeding grounds to thrive.

Also, all involved in the One Health approach should be encouraged to play their roles to ensure that nothing is left to chance so that rabies and other zoonotic diseases can be eliminated from the country.

We also call on dogs and pets owners to practise responsible ownership by ensuring that they vaccinate their animals against rabies and also keep them from attacking people.

We also appeal to the government to provide an adequate budgetary allocation to the animal health sector to improve on its surveillance in communities as well as veterinary infrastructure across the country for effective services.