World Rabies Day 2013: how it went and what you thought
Every year we are humbled by the extraordinary efforts people go to for World Rabies Day and 2013 is no exception.
We'd love to hear how it went for you. If you organized or took part in a World Rabies Day event this year, we'd like to thank you.
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It was thrilling to have nearly 180 individual events registered on our website and every continent represented. The map of events on our website shows more clearly than ever that World Rabies Day is an ever-growing global movement. Here is a small sample to give you a flavor of what took place.
As well as national awareness campaigns like those held in Brazil, Tanzania, Nepal and symposiums in U.S.A, Kenya and France and there were lots of smaller independent events.
Dr. Vinay M in Mandya City, India organized a quiz-night for student nurses. With participants from all the nursing colleges in the city, this was a fun way of testing and improving their knowledge of rabies pre-exposure and post-exposure prophylaxis.
Meanwhile, in the small country of Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, Naio Cassama organized the distribution of leaflets and free vaccinations for cats and dogs. You can see the event details here and he also posted a comment on our Facebook page (look at Recent Posts by Others).
The Philippines topped the list of countries with the most events listed with all-sorts going on from local vaccination clinics to a ‘One-of-a-Kind Dog Show’ to a nationwide responsible pet ownership awareness campaign. And this year we also saw a new world record when in Sacramento, USA, they gave over 2250 pets free rabies shots and free microchips. A fantastic achievement!
And finally, in Syrian refugee camps, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Al Baath University in cooperation with the Directorate of Health in Hama distributed leaflets and booklets outlining the safe handling of dogs and rabies prevention measures to children. They also ran a month-long free dog vaccination campaign. Their dedication, in spite of the unrest and difficulties, is inspirational.
These are only a handful of what took place. We celebrate every single event: Each one shows the passion and dedication of individuals and organizations to bring and end to the immense suffering that rabies causes.
Again, if you took part, a huge THANK YOU. We would love to hear about and share your experiences: Please remember to comment on and share photos of events you organized or attended. (To do this, find your event, click on it so you can see the full event details and share your experience at the bottom of the page.)
If you didn’t take part this year, then perhaps you’ll be inspired you to join in next year? Together we can beat rabies!