FAO Vietnam, 24/09/2016

Vinh City –  To celebrate World Rabies Day, the Ministry of Health of Viet Nam, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other One Health partners join hands to promote the message “Rabies: Educate, Vaccinate and  Eliminate” to policy makers, animal and public health professionals, dog owners and the general public.

World Rabies Day, organized across 100 different countries around the 28th September each year, is a day when the public and authorities demonstrate commitment to raise awareness about rabies prevention and to progress in defeating this fatal disease.This year, the world celebrates the 10th World Rabies Day anniversary, a milestone in rabies prevention, by promoting the use of safe and efficacious animal and human vaccines and community engagement in effective rabies prevention.

Viet Nam has made progress in recent years to eliminate rabies through coordinated efforts by MARD, MOH and provincial authorities. 49 people in 20 provinces and cities died of rabies this year compared to 52 deaths in 22 provinces and cities at this point last year. This progress demonstrates Viet Nam’s government is on the right track to eliminate rabies. Nevertheless, the final stretch is the hardest and Viet Nam has to continue to take strong action to achieve the ASEAN target of rabies elimination by 2020.

See more: http://www.fao.org/vietnam/news/detail-events/en/c/437801/