23 Sep 2024

Rabies remains a neglected, but extremely cruel disease, whose victims are condemned to a slow painful death, Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Mmusi Kgafela has said.

Officiating at World Rabies Day commemoration in Mochudi recently, Mr Kgafela said globally, rabies had killed 5 900 people, mostly young children in developing countries, where public awareness was low and healthcare systems were generally under severe strain.

Mr Kgafela said rabies was an economic disease as it killed scores of livestock thus denying communities the much-needed revenue and nutrition and further eroding households’ incomes, especially in rural communities.

He added that rabies also affected wildlife, with possibility of decimating its population, thereby reducing its contribution to economic development and income generation for rural communities.

In that regard, he called on communities to prevent rabies through vaccination and management of dog population.

He said while vaccination of dogs was not only highly effective in preventing transmission of the disease to people, it also prevented the disease spilling into wildlife population and vice versa.
“Rabies is a classic one-health problem requiring a multi-sectoral, ‘whole of society’ approach to manage and even eradicate,” he said.

Mr Kgafela revealed that Botswana had committed to be among the countries that would eliminate dog-mediated rabies by 2030 through implementation of well supported and resourced, well planned, well-coordinated integrated rabies control programme.

This, he said would include free mass dog rabies vaccination campaigns, free human rabies prophylactic treatment and awareness campaigns.

Emphasising the importance of high vaccination coverage for the objective to be achieved, Mr Kgafela regretted that vaccination coverage for dogs had been declining over the years.

“This resulted in spikes in the number of rabies cases in dogs, livestock and wildlife in the Mahalapye, Mochudi, Maun, Molepolole and Gaborone areas,” he said.

Nevertheless, he said human rabies cases in Botswana had not been detected in recent times.

For his part, Botswana Vaccine Institute (BVI) chief executive officer, Mr Andrew Madeswi said the organisation was committed to providing sustainable animal health solutions through manufacturing and supply of high quality vaccines, including rabies.

Mr Madeswi said in the last decade, BVI had been able to support countries within the region with over six million doses of rabies vaccine.

“We also continue to donate the rabies vaccine to the local Botswana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals as a way of ensuring that animals at this refuge are routinely vaccinated for rabies,” he said.

Food Agricultural Organisation (FAO) representative to Botswana, Ms Carla Mucavi said they had been involved in supporting vaccination campaigns and development of community-based programmes to prevent and eliminate rabies.
Ms Mucavi said in 2018, the World Health Organisation (WHO), World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), FAO and the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) launched the largest global anti-rabies initiative.

“These organisations set an ambitious target of achieving zero human rabies deaths by 2030 and in pursuit of this goal, FAO, alongside its partners, has actively supported a range of initiatives leveraging our unique strengths.

We are working closely with national governments, international partners, and local communities to establish sustainable vaccination programmes, conduct capacity-building efforts and provide technical support,” she said.

She added that through such efforts, FAO aimed not only to reduce the transmission of rabies from animals to humans but also enhance the overall health and welfare of animal populations. ENDS