Me and my dog: harnessing the internet to increase awareness

This World Rabies Day, GARC chose to celebrate effective rabies prevention at all levels, from international stakeholders to individuals, with the theme that most of you are now very familiar with –#TogetherAgainstRabies.

As part of these efforts, the online campaign Me and my dog reminded dog owners in rabies-endemic countries of the importance of keeping their dogs’ vaccinations up to date. It also raised awareness among dog lovers in countries where rabies is well controlled, of the plight suffered by animals elsewhere.

The idea was simple enough: show your love for your dog by sharing a picture with the hashtag #TogetherAgainstRabies, and we would add it to a collection of photos from all over the world to show that people care, and to raise awareness of the life-saving importance of canine rabies vaccination. Photos could be added through the GARC website, Facebook and Twitter, and people were then encouraged to share the link with their family and friends. 

The global response was phenomenal. People from around the world submitted photos and many signed the pledge to support the call for people to vaccinate their dogs and for governments to support canine vaccination for effective and humane rabies control. The campaign had global appeal and even attracted attention in countries where rabies is no longer endemic, but its runaway success was in India.

On September 26, #TogetherAgainstRabies trended nationally on Twitter, directly reaching over 555,000 people. The campaign also engaged over 50,000 people in India on Facebook.As the country with the highest number of rabies cases in the world, the Indian results were very encouraging.

Celebrity endorsements of the campaign included our patron Alexander McCall Smith, internationally renowned designer Orla Kiely and Bollywood superstar Esha Deol.

One of our local partners in the Philippines overcame the online limitation of the campaign creatively by setting up a photo booth at their World Rabies Day event. This enabled participants to have photos taken with their dogs, and these were added to the collection. It proved to be an excellent light-hearted way of reminding communities about caring responsibly for their dogs through vaccination.

It’s encouraging to know that the message of rabies prevention through dog vaccination has reached so many people, and the lessons learned will help us to reach many more in future. Please take a look and enjoy the hundreds of photos in the collection at https://storify.com/RabiesAlliance/me-and-my-dog-togetheragainstrabies-1.  And remember, you’re a major part of this. Your work helps enable the mutually beneficial human-canine relationship that so many people and dogs around the world enjoy. 

We would like to thank the World Rabies Day Partners for their support of the campaign, with particular thanks to MSD Animal Health for the Indian outreach and Sanofi Pasteur and Merial for their global support.