Health Through Media Leaders conducts mass pet vaccinations, IEC campaigns and lecture/training to heads of households or adult representative of each community household, pet owners, high school students, and
elementary students, and established the Biswangan Anti- Rabies Club (BARC), a team responsible for the following to but not limited to: Pet registry, pet and human vaccine acquisition, management of dog and cat bites, information dissemination, monitoring and evaluation. All dogs were registered in the community based pet registry.
The biggest impact the team has had is through the provision of locally relevant and tailor-fitted lectures and IEC campaigns through the adaptation of the GARC materials and translating them into the vernacular. That indeed had the intended effect in increasing their knowledge on rabies, responsible pet ownership and proper management of dog bites. IEC Materials and video lectures were endorsed by the local barangay health team to ensure availability and sustainability of these sources of knowledge at any given time.
Mass pet vaccinations were also done by first inviting the whole community through point persons who distributed
notices, and the veterinarian from the Municipal Agricultural Office was invited. The vaccinations took place at the local waiting shed of each purok. The group went from purok to purok vaccinating those dogs brought by their owners that met the requirements of being 3 months old and above, not lactating or pregnant. They were also registered on the pet registry which contained their names, owner’s names and vaccination date. The owners were also given vaccination cards so that they would have concrete proof that their pets were vaccinated and they can present these for yearly documentation of their dog’s vaccination status.
Dog bite cases were all referred for medical assessment at health centers, then referred to animal bite centers. IEC materials on proper bite management and referral scheme were posted at the local Health center. Animal bite case management was taught to grassroots workers to further improve health services of the facility.
(Excerpt from nomination)