The campaign delivered by the Welttierschutzgesellschaft and the LSPCA ran for a period of twenty eight days and covered at least twenty two townships around Lilongwe. The 2017 rabies campaign’s theme: “zero rabies by 2030,” followed an agreement by World Health Organization (WHO), World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), UN Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) and Global Alliance Rabies Control (GARC) to eliminate human deaths from canine rabies by 2030.
According to WHO, rabies a viral infection of the nervous system is one of the deadly diseases killing over 60,000 people worldwide and claims an estimated 500 lives per year in Malawi. Children are most likely to become infected with rabies resulting from dog licks and bites as they often play and have closer contact with animals.