Eenhana, Namibia
Rabies JTC Meeting between Angola and Namibia
September 17, 2019
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Owner presenting his pets for vaccination at the central point vaccination center and being interviewed by media in Lubango. Picture (c) Samo Daniel (2020).
To safeguard people from rabies, Angola today launched a mass dog vaccination campaign against rabies, to begin with in Huíla Province. Three other Provinces in the south of Angola (Cunene, Cuando Cubango, Namibe) will launch their campaign next week.
Mass dog vaccination training for the vaccinators conducted before the actual campaign. Picture (c) Samo Daniel (2020).
The campaign aims to vaccinate around 140,000 dogs (and cover about 70% of the dog population), sensitise the public about rabies and the importance of vaccination of their pets against rabies.
The launch of the campaign follows a series of planning and logistical arrangements including training of the vaccinators and public education on rabies by the Institute of Veterinary Services of Angola, despite the global COVID-19 pandemic.
In September 2019 Angola developed a Strategic action plan towards the elimination of dog-mediated rabies. With the support from the European Union-funded ‘Strengthening Veterinary Services in Developing Countries’ Project, the OIE donated 140,000 doses of rabies vaccines to Angola on 11 February 2020 to facilitate the initial stages of the mass dog vaccination campaign.
To successfully implement and operationalise their rabies elimination strategy, the Angolan Veterinary Services were also supported with the Global Alliance for Rabies Control Data Loggers (GDL) in order to capture and manage vaccination data, as well as dog catching nets supplied by Germany funded Namibia Rabies Project. The OIE and the Namibia Veterinary Services also provided technical support to Angola during the development of the rabies elimination strategy and organisation of the mass dog vaccination campaign
