By Laudia Sawer
Tema, Aug. 18, GNA-Dr Emmanuel Kwao Pecku, the Tema Metropolitan Veterinary Officer, has urged teachers to help educate children on the effects of dog bites and rabies to reduce the disease among humans.
Dr Pecku said children were more vulnerable to dog bites and rabies than adults, due to the way they played with domestic animals, and vulnerable to attacks.
He gave the advice when the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Breakthrough Action-Johns Hopkins University, collaborated with the Veterinary Services Directorate, Ghana Health Service, Ghana Education Service, and Boehringer Ingelheim, to sensitise the School Health Education Programme (SHEP) coordinators of basic schools in the Tema Metropolis.
He said because of the vulnerability of children, statistics on the disease in Ghana revealed that over 40 per cent of rabies cases involved children under the age 14 years, hence the need to educate them on its transmission, how to avoid and handle dog bites and where to report such cases.
Dr Pecku said most children do not report dog bits because of the fear of being scolded by their parents, not until clinical signs of rabies start showing, putting them at risk of death from rabies if bitten by an infected animal.
He stated that although a lot of sensitisations had been carried out on rabies disease in the past, more needed to be done, as there were still people with adequate knowledge about the deadly effect of the infection.
Dr Pecku explained that rabies, a zoonotic disease, was transferrable to humans from infected animals, and it was 100 per cent fatal, adding that every nine minutes someone dies from rabies, as data indicated that 59,000 people died from the disease annually worldwide.
He said apart from dogs, other animals could spread rabies, however, it was evident that 99 per cent of all human rabies cases were transmitted by dogs; therefore, there was a need for dog owners to be responsible and vaccinate their pets against the disease to break the chain of transmission.
He said while the cost of controlling rabies in humans was expensive, it was cheaper to prevent it with the use of vaccines and encouraged dog owners to ensure that their pets receive the vaccine to protect themselves and their entire community.
Mrs Akua Titus Glover, the Senior Programmes Officer, Breakthrough Action-JHU, said zoonotic diseases had become serious public health threats globally, therefore the need to sensitise stakeholders on such diseases, including rabies.
Mrs Glover said currently Ghana had prioritised six zoonotic diseases, adding that Breakthrough Action, working on global health security threats, was collaborating with other organizations to tackle them.
She stated that they were focusing on rabies, to ensure that the goal of having zero rabies by 2030 was achieved through community awareness creation, school education, vaccinating dogs, and ensuring a lifesaving treatment for dog bites, among others.
She reiterated the need for responsible pet ownership, where dog owners would ensure that their animals were vaccinated and well-kept, unlike the current trend of having colonies of dogs roaming in communities, which posed a health threat to the people.
Mrs Glover said all stakeholders including health officials, were being educated on what to do when dog bites were reported to their facilities, while community members would also get to know what to do when bitten by dogs.
The media, she said must also be well informed on rabies to put them in a better position to educate the public through their programmes and reportage.
GNA