“Want a Friend? Be a Friend!” educational booklets distributed during Zimbabwe mass vaccination campaign

Since February 2018, GARC has been collaborating with The Zimbabwean Department of Veterinary Services, the Zimbabwe National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ZNSPCA) and Veterinarians for Animal Welfare Zimbabwe (VAWZ) on a mass dog vaccination and public awareness campaign in Harare, Zimbabwe, where a rabies outbreak began at the end of 2010.

In December 2017 we ran a fundraising campaign to be able to print copies of the Want a Friend? Be a Friend! booklets that are aimed at educating children on how to behave around dogs, care for their animals and how to avoid dog bites.

Thanks to the generosity of the global community, we raised over £1,000 (USD$1,313) to print the Want a Friend? Be a Friend! educational booklets. Since the start of the vaccination and awareness campaign in February 2018, more than 5,500 dogs have been vaccinated against rabies in the Harare area, which has thus ensured that dogs, and the people living amongst them, are protected against rabies.

As a next step, every opportunity to work within the local communities was used to distribute the educational booklets to local children at the same time. This ensures that children are learning about dog bite prevention, rabies and responsible pet ownership – something not currently included in the Zimbabwe school curriculum. 

If you would like to support future GARC campaigns and help get rabies educational materials like these printed, then please click this Paypal link. For every $10 donated, you will be helping to keep five children and their families safe from rabies.

Submitted by Andre Coetzer, GARC

To print your own copy of Want a Friend? Be a Friend! in an array of languages you can view all available languages in the Resources section of our website. Contact GARC if you would like to create Want a Friend? Be a Friend in a new language.