Ghana’s ability to eradicate rabies deaths by 2030 in line with the GLOBAL ALLIANCE For Rabid Control (GARC) has come into sharp focus as less than 20% of the country’s dog population remains unvaccinated.
Out of the 2.5 million dogs in the country, the veterinary service reports that approximately 76,000 dogs received rabies jabs in the year 2023.
Though the veterinary service has ramped up vaccination of dogs and cuts to some 172,000 between 2023 and 2024; this leaves some 2.3 million pets mainly dogs roaming unvaccinated.
The figures are alarming as dogs have been the main reservoir for the rabid virus and have been the source of transmitting it to about 99% of all reported human cases in Ghana.
Speaking at the 2024 commemoration of World Rabies Day, Ashanti Regional Director of Veterinary Services Dr. Mrs. Mabel Abudu attributed this trend to irresponsible pet keeping and lack of enforcement of by laws on animal welfare.
“The dogs have to be vaccinated annually. If that is followed religiously, puppies have to take their jabs at three months. Unfortunately, it does not happen in our country,” she bemoaned.
Dr Mabel Abudu warned the public to be ready to budget for their dogs and ensure that they are well taken care of, fed a balanced diet and sent for routine vaccinations as part of responsible pet keeping.
“If our animal welfare system were working, people engaging in irresponsible pet keeping will be arrested. The stray dogs we see on our roads are all having owners,” she stressed.
Rabies a zoonotic disease contracted usually from dogs and cats either through bites or scratches from a rabid pet, annually kills over 55 thousand people worldwide.
Ghana has reported 603 confirmed Rabies outbreaks from 2018 to 2024 with Ashanti, Greater Accra, Upper East, Western and Central regions recording the most reported outbreaks.
The commemoration of World Rabies Day was held in the Atwima Nwabiagya North District where a 6-year-old girl died from rabies in April this year.
Commiserating with the family, the Atwima Nwabiagya North District Health Director Dr Eric Sarpong said it would take a collective effort to prevent yet another rabies death from happening in the country.
“As a corporate responsibility for the veterinary, individual and all stakeholders, we must ensure that our pets are vaccinated. They won’t have the organism and hence cannot be transmitted to cause death,” he advised.
National lead of the Animal System Strengthening Project of DEFRA-UK Dr WILLIAM ADU insisted that until the country is able to vaccinate 70% of all dogs and cats, achieving the rabies death eradication targets will be a mirage.
“If we have a large number of 70% dogs vaccinated, they will not transmit the disease,” he noted.
Some residents took advantage of a free rabies vaccination exercise mounted at Asuofia in the Atwima Nwabiagya North District; to get their pets vaccinated.
The World Rabies Day marked annually on September 28, also marks the anniversary of the death of Louis Pasteur’s – the French chemist and microbiologist, who developed the first rabies vaccine.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Ivan Heathcote – Fumador
