PANJIM: After receiving funds to the tune of Rs 55,17,000 from the government, the Mission Rabies programme has vaccinated over 12,000 dogs across the State in just one week. They have also technologically streamlined the process by introducing an app to map each vaccinated dog.
Speaking to the media, Dr Murugan Appupillai, director of the India Education programme for Mission Rabies said the government had agreed to collaborate on the project agreeing to fund half the costs.
“We had run a six-month campaign between April and September 2014 to sterilise and vaccinate 20,000 dogs. After achieving this goal, we decided to launch a three-year follow up vaccination programme to rid Goa of rabies,” said Dr Appupillai, adding that Mission Rabies would be holding an intensive four-week vaccination drive where 20 teams and over 150 staff will work their way through the State targeting to vaccinate at least 35,000 dogs.
The drive that was launched on September 14, will end on October 9. The teams involved in the programme are using the Mission Rabies App to map vaccinated dogs. “Each team that works in a particular part of the State is made to create a log and register dogs they’ve vaccinated. At the end of the day all the reports are then uploaded to the main server, where I can review them,” said Dr Andy Gibson, epidemiology and research manager for Mission Rabies. He highlighted the need for pet dogs to be vaccinated and neutered. Of the 70 percent dogs that are owned, only about 16 percent are neutered.
Teams also visit schools to teach students how to react and deal with situations when dealing with a rabid dog. “Globally, 40 percent of deaths due to rabies occur among children that are under 14. In India, this is 60 percent. We have therefore created an awareness programme that caters to teaching children how to react in such situations,” said global education manger Rosalind Johnson.
Though Mission Rabies is an all India initiative, in Goa, the project has covered 454 schools, 3,205 teachers, 95,823 children and 3,155 communities.
The programme includes a special rally and function on September 28 to celebrate World Rabies Day.
