September 28 is World Rabies Day

Preventing rabies and saving lives is a constant job but every September 28 we in the rabies community reach out to each other and the world in general for World Rabies Day.

As I write this, September 28 is 80 days away - and counting - so it’s time to tell you some of what we have planned.

The theme this year is #TogetherAgainstRabies. Grammar pedants may be horrified that there are no spaces between the words, but if you’re familiar with social networks, you’ll recognise that the theme doubles up as a hashtag.

Why use a hashtag? One of our jobs as an organisation is to amplify your call for rabies prevention. Social media is an ideal way to do this. Even if you don’t use these networks, the chances are you will know people who do and by using #TogetherAgainstRabies as it’s written here you reinforce its social media presence, helping the rabies prevention message reach more people, to vaccinate more dogs and save more lives.

The theme #TogetherAgainstRabies reflects the One Health principle that the health and wellbeing of people and animals are interdependent. Vaccinating animals against the virus protects people too and, in some cases, safeguards livelihoods. This year, World Rabies Day is about that mutual benefit. #TogetherAgainstRabies we’re all healthier - it’s a win-win situation. 

In the background, we’ve been busy updating our organizer packs, including more advice on how to organise an event and mobilize the media. For those of you working with the authorities to prevent rabies, we're creating guidelines to help you with your efforts - we'll be sending out an update when these are ready, along with other exciting ways to reach more people. 

And finally, World Rabies Day is all about individuals, like you, who are prepared to play their part to stop the suffering rabies causes. We already have events registered - please get involved too.

There is a list of ideas on our website here but these are only a guide. As long as your event has the aim of preventing rabies it will qualify as a World Rabies Day event.

Registering your event has the very important effect of adding momentum to World Rabies Day and inspiring others. Your event, whatever you choose to do, however big or small it is, really does matter. Please register your event here and it will show as a pin on our map here

Here we go 2014 – let’s make this the best World Rabies Day yet!

If you have questions or comments about World Rabies Day, please do get in touch with Liz here