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The Greater Accra Regional Veterinary Officer, Dr Joseph K. Abuh, has called for more resources to enable the country to undertake a well-coordinated annual national mass and free anti-rabies campaign from now to 2030.
That, he said, would enable the country to achieve rabies elimination through a well-coordinated mass dog vaccination, targeting 70 per cent of the dog population annually for at least five years.
He was speaking on Tuesday at La Emmaus Cluster of Schools in Accra as part of the activities marking this year’s World Rabies Day celebration on the theme ‘Breaking rabies boundaries’.
The day is an annual event established by Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC), with the goal of global elimination of rabies by 2030.
The Ghana Health Services (GHS), between January 2020 and December 2023 recorded 600 suspected rabies cases with the Greater Accra being the second most affected with over 150 confirmed dog rabies cases between 2018 and 2024.
The event, which began with a float through some principal streets of the town and a sensitisation durbar to address the safety of families from rabies also focused on promoting responsible dog ownership, vaccinating dogs, preventing dog bites and getting prompt vaccinations if bitten.
According to Dr Abuh, the resources will go a long way to assist the deplorable infrastructure of the Veterinary Service Department and also urged government to cater for all the under staffed and under resourced needs of the Service across the country.
The Regional Veterinary Officer indicated that other barriers that needed to be eliminated to achieve GARC targets include breaking disease siloes, lack of one health collaboration, insufficient cooperation, lack of innovation: small scale programmes and diseases awareness.
Ms Ellen Kwarteng Amponsah, Health Promotion Officer at the La Dade-Kotopon Municipal (LaDMA) Health Directorate, said rabies presents a significant public health threat due to low public awareness, insufficient vaccination coverage, and limited access to healthcare.
Ms Amponsah was of the view that through critical surveillance and monitoring, and community and stakeholders’ involvement, rabies and other emerging diseases could be addressed.
The Municipal Veterinary Officer for LaDMA, Obed Neequaye Ashaley, explained that this year’s campaign targeted children because they were the most venerable victims of dog or cat rabies cases.
BY VICTOR A. BUXTON
