The rural community of Ga Mampa, in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, is a small farming village where people keep dogs for protection against crop snatchers, companionship and sometimes hunting. The interaction of these dogs with wild animals makes rabies vaccination critical to their safety and that of their owners.
The vaccination campaign started with an education drive where 200 learners got an in-person presentation on pet health and rabies awareness during a Career Day event. Pamphlets about the rabies vaccination campaign to take place the next day were shared with the learners to let their families know. Rabies awareness material was further shared with over 800 learners who could not make it.
The next day consisted of administering rabies vaccination shots and deworming the dogs. The campaign was coordinated by the Future Africa Research Chair on People, Health and Places (One Health), supported by the University of Pretoria Centre for Viral Zoonoses, and technical expertise from the Limpopo Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and AfriVet Training Services. The team of 16 people vaccinate dogs from the 365 households in the village of Ga Mampa. Over 200 dogs were vaccinated and dewormed. Dog owners were also given vaccination cards to create records for their dogs for future campaigns. This success was achieved by the rigorous, well-communicated, multi team and house-to-house approach of this campaign.
Event images
