Working together to make our community rabies-free

Preventing rabies requires the whole community to work together.

Encouraging your neighbors to take responsibility for their own dogs as well as free-roaming dogs is the best way to stop rabies from affecting your children and community.

Encouraging community vaccination:

• Collaborate with local health departments and veterinary services to organize rabies vaccination drives for dogs in your community.
• Use community meetings, social media, and local bulletin boards to inform everyone about the importance of vaccinating dogs. Create flyers and posters with information on vaccination schedules and the benefits of rabies prevention.
• Offer your time to help with organizing and running vaccination drives. Encourage others to volunteer as well.

Educating the community:

• Talk to your neighbours about the risks of rabies, how to prevent it, and the importance of vaccinating pets.
• Get a few neighbours to help you arrange workshops or information sessions at community centres, schools, or places of worship to educate people about rabies, its dangers, and how to prevent it. Invite local health professionals to speak.
• Work with local schools to organize school assemblies or classroom presentations to teach children about rabies prevention.

Each 28 September, the world commemorates World Rabies Day to raise awareness about rabies and its prevention. You can work with teachers and health workers in your community to organize these awareness activities and vaccination drives.