Cooperation on multiple fronts to fight against rabies

The program "Rabies Vaccination for the Community in 2025" has recently been launched by Long An Department of Agriculture and Environment, Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry, Boehringer Ingelheim Vietnam and Duc Hue District People's Committee in Duc Hue district, Long An province.

This is the fifth consecutive year that the "Rabies Vaccination for the Community" program has been organized in Duc Hue district, also marking the final year of the 2021 - 2025 period. Therefore, this year's program has the theme of “the 5-year journey of joining hands to repel rabies". From April 19 to 26, the program plans to vaccinate 8,500 doses of vaccine for dogs and cats in 11 communes and towns of Duc Hue district, reaching more than 90% of the total declared herd.

“In the past 5 years, the program has vaccinated more than 33,000 dogs and cats in Duc Hue against rabies,” says Dinh Thi Phuong Khanh, Deputy Director of Long An Department of Agriculture and Environment.

According to Deputy Director Dinh Thi Phuong Khanh, the program “Rabies Vaccination for the Community” was first organized in 2021. At that time, the conditions and circumstances for implementing the vaccination were extremely difficult due to the Covid-19 pandemic. After the first vaccination session, many people thought the program would stop due to the impact of the global pandemic.

With the determination to accompany and support Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry, Boehringer Ingelheim Vietnam and other sponsors, plus the active coordination of Duc Hue District People's Committee, the program "Rabies Vaccination for the Community" has been continuously implemented over the past 5 years and brought very positive results to the community here. The rate of vaccinated dogs and cats is always high in Duc Hue district.

“Our vaccination campaigns over the past five years have proven that when animals are healthy, people are healthier. For us, every vaccine injection is not just an act of animal protection, but also an important step forward in the journey to protect public health in Vietnam,” says Niklas Birkner, Head of Animal Health at Boehringer Ingelheim Vietnam.

In addition to implementing large-scale rabies vaccination, this year, the “Rabies Vaccination for the Community” program continues to focus on communication work on rabies prevention and control. It distributes 6,000 leaflets to adults and students who are dog and cat owners, arranges a parade to propagate rabies prevention along the streets of Dong Thanh town, Duc Hue district, plants trees to commemorate “the 5-year journey of Joining hands to repel rabies” at My Thanh Bac Secondary School, and organizes examination and consultation on diseases transmitted from animals to humans for pet owners.

Following the success of the previous, the Organizing Committee of the program "Rabies vaccination for the community in 2025" holds a poster painting contest with the theme "Rabies prevention from the perspective of students" with the participation of 48 hand-drawn paintings from students of 4 secondary schools, including My Quy Dong Secondary School, My Thanh Dong Secondary School, My Thanh Bac Secondary School, My Binh Secondary School and High School. The Organizing Committee selects 12 best works and awards prizes at the opening ceremony of the program.

Dr. Le Quang Thong, Head of the Faculty of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry, strongly believes that the combination of mass vaccination, community education and livestock monitoring is the key to creating positive changes in the attitudes of pet owners. Positive changes from pet owners such as proactively seeking veterinary support and vaccinating their pets are a solid foundation for sustainable rabies prevention measures in animals and humans.

With close cooperation between localities, professional organizations, businesses, veterinarians, pet owners and the community, we can gradually move towards the goal of eliminating rabies, improving life and protecting the health of humans and animals.