Vaccination day

Western Tanzania World Rabies Day 2021 is a free mass rabies vaccination on dogs and cats with education awareness among local communities of Kahama municipal and Ushetu district in Shinyanga region Tanzania, 

Killing dogs won’t stop rabies”

Every year, many dogs are inhumanely culled in an attempt to stop the spread of rabies. Every day many people die of rabies most of these people are children under 15 years of age. Killing dogs is not the solution as it does not stop the disease; mass dog vaccination is the only proven solution. TAPO will works with local governments to change their proposed reasons for culling and help them to provide free mass vaccination on dogs that involve local communities Wards areas of Kahama District.

2021 World Rabies Day with the Theme, “ sharing facts, not fear

 

The global COVID-19 pandemic has raised many doubts and misconceptions about diseases, their spread and about vaccination in general. Because of this, there has been some hesitancy about the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccines in many countries and many people are afraid to get vaccinated. For rabies, this is nothing new, as fears, misconceptions and misinformation about the disease and its prevention dates back hundreds of years. For that reason, this year’s theme is focused on sharing facts about rabies, and not spreading fear about the disease by relying on misinformation and myths.

Facts: Facts are essential for raising disease awareness, preventing rabies cases, having the animal population vaccinated, and educating people about the dangers of rabies and how to prevent it. Without facts we would not have data for decision-makers to inform them of the serious nature of the disease. We would not be able to advocate for its elimination and the burden of the disease would remain unknown, resulting in tens of thousands of people and animals continuing to die from rabies each year. Let us use facts to raise awareness and educate others about rabies – a 99% fatal, yet 100% preventable disease.

Fear: The word “fear” has three meanings in this year’s theme. Firstly, it relates to the general fear caused by rabies, the fear people experience when encountering rabid animals, and the fear that people live with in communities plagued by rabies. The second meaning relates directly to the symptom of fear that people may experience when infected with rabies. Lastly, fear relates to the fear caused by ‘fake news’ or myths about ]rabies – making people afraid of vaccination, making people afraid to get their animals sterilized or vaccinated, and making people believe in ineffective treatments for the disease.

 to advocate for better rabies control initiatives in your community, whether this relates to calling for mass dog vaccination, or advocating for humane dog population management instead of ineffective dog culling.

Spread facts, not fear: Get involved by sharing accurate facts about rabies, while dispelling myths, doubt, and misconceptions 

we want all awards areas where no dog is needlessly culled because of fear of rabies with benefit from mass dog vaccination in the following ways

  1. Animal welfare: It stops cruelty.

  2. Human health: It protects the community

  3. Economic: It saves money

4. Key Facts About Vaccination

A. It’s a barrier

  • Dogs are the main reservoir host for human and canine rabies..

  • Vaccinating at least 70% of dogs in an area creates ‘herd immunity’.

  • The vaccinated dogs form a barrier, slowing the spread of rabies until it dies out. By removing this main source of infection, rabies cases in dogs and other animal populations can be eliminated and human rabies deaths vastly reduced.

 

B. It’s humane

  • Many of dogs are saved from needless inhumane culling that is driven by a fear of rabies;

  • Many of cases of rabies in dogs are also prevented;

  • Vaccination promotes a more responsible and less fearful attitude towards dogs within communities.

 

C. It’s cost-effective

  • Vaccinating dogs is not only more effective than culling dogs for controlling rabies, but it is also very cost-effective. As more dogs are vaccinated, fewer people are bitten by rabid dogs and this can greatly reduce the demand for costly human vaccines given for post-exposure treatment.

  • Mass vaccination is cost-effective, humane and sustainable and it’s the only effective solution to controlling canine rabies.

 

D. Rabies – 100% preventable Culling dogs – 100% needless

{ Fear causes cruelty}

 

Fear of rabies is a major driving force causing many of unnecessary dog deaths every year. Where rabies is endemic, so is cruelty to dogs. Mass vaccination addresses this fear and improves public attitudes to dogs. During a cull, dogs are often rounded up and methods used to kill them include poisoning, gassing, electrocution, beating and shooting. All often result in slow and agonizing deaths. Strychnine, for example, is administered using meat baits or darts. It causes violent convulsions and impaired breathing, which eventually kills the dogs.

 

With baiting, they may experience extreme pain, for over an hour in some cases, throughout which they’re conscious. Carbon monoxide, another method, is often administered via car exhaust fumes to dogs that have been herded into gas chambers. Lack of oxygen in the blood and depression of the central nervous system leads to respiratory arrest and eventually death. During the gassing process, dogs howl, yelp and bark for about 7 minutes until they lose consciousness. They take up to 20 minutes to die

 

Event images

Vaccination day
Vaccination day
Vaccination day
Vaccination day
Vaccination day
Vaccination day
Vaccination day
Vaccination day
Vaccination day
Vaccination day