Schering-Plough, an innovation-driven, science-centred global healthcare company, has initiated sponsorship of two projects in India to reduce the incidence of human and animal rabies through improved educational awareness and mass vaccination of dogs. The company will donate US$ 200,000 and rabies vaccine from Intervet/Schering-Plough as well as share expertise with partners to support successful implementation of the projects in ten villages surrounding Bangalore and Pune.
"Our company has a commitment to reducing the prevalence of rabies in vulnerable places around the world, and these new initiatives in India demonstrate continuing support of eradication efforts," said Schering-Plough chairman and CEO Fred Hassan. "As with the Afya Serengeti project that Schering-Plough supports in Africa, educating people about rabies and how to prevent it is the most effective weapon against the disease."
Using the 'Adopt a Village' concept, education about rabies prevention and treatment will be aimed at the entire community and adapted for everyone from small children to adults and village leaders. With guidance from the non profit Global Alliance for Rabies Control, the programmes will involve medical and veterinary professors, experts in the field of rabies along with medical students from universities.
"Our goal is to provide a sustainable solution for communities in developing nations to prevent rabies that takes into account how people interact with community dogs and other animals in their environment," said Deborah J Briggs, executive director, Global Alliance for Rabies Control. "Rabies remains a neglected disease of the poor and disenfranchised, and we believe projects such as these being developed in India will serve as models that can be replicated in other vulnerable areas. The grim truth is that every day more than 150 people die of rabies. More than 100 of them are children and every one of the deaths should have been prevented."
The Global Alliance for Rabies Control will supervise projects in four selected villages outside the city of Bangalore: Ramohally, Hulluvenahally, Chandrappa circle and Prasanachari palya. The Alliance will partner with a number of India-based groups to ensure maximum impact. Partners from India include the Rabies in Asia Foundation; the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS); Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) and the Veterinary College, Bangalore.
The Bombay Veterinary College, Mumbai, will take the lead role for projects in six major villages in Pune district, namely Narayangaon, Khodad, Arvi Pimpalgaon, Yedgaon, Alephata and Vadgaon Anand. The college will be supported by K N P College of Veterinary Science, Shirval, and Karuna Animal Health Foundation, Narayangaon. Intervet India, the Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health business located in Pune, will be contributing technical support for the project as an extension of its current rabies prevention efforts.
According to the WHO, India reports the highest incidence of human rabies accounting for an estimated 20,000 of the 55,000 deaths reported worldwide each year. Three-quarters of the deaths in India occur in rural areas with the highest rates among the poor, particularly children under the age of 15. The new programmes in India will start with surveys to learn how well rabies prevention is understood in the selected villages and to assess the status of rabies among the villages' dog and other animal populations. Researchers will also track the numbers of reported cases and human and animal deaths due to the disease.
Education about rabies prevention is urgently needed because WHO research shows most deaths occur when people bitten by, or exposed to, a rabid animal do not seek or receive appropriate treatment. In most countries where canine rabies is prevalent, victims of dog bites lack understanding of the importance of seeking appropriate medical treatment from a qualified health facility. Proper wound cleansing and immunizations, done as soon as possible after contact with a suspect animal, can prevent the onset of rabies in virtually 100 per cent of exposures, the WHO has found. If left untreated, the fatality rate after rabies infection is 100 per cent.
The education campaigns will draw attention to the importance of vaccinating community dogs. Improving community understanding of the life-saving value of administering canine vaccines is crucial; the WHO has determined that the most cost-effective strategy for preventing rabies in people is to eliminate rabies in dogs through animal vaccinations. This will especially benefit children, who typically have closer contact with dogs than adults and are less inclined to report injuries sustained from playing or other interaction with the animals.