Rabies is a fatal neurological disease that can be carried by a number of hosts, including dogs, and has a significant, negative impact on public health budgets, local communities and livestock economies in developing areas.

Of the tens of thousands of people who die from rabies annually, 99 percent contracted the disease from an infected dog. Tragically, 40 percent of these deaths are in children under the age of 15. These deaths can be prevented – through campaigns to vaccinate dogs and education on rabies prevention in endemic parts of the world.

Our company’s Animal Health business collaborates with governments and charitable organizations to aid in controlling infectious animal diseases that could negatively impact human health. This is exemplified in our rabies control and education efforts.

Volunteerism

Volunteerism is an important pillar of our corporate social responsibility. Over the years, numerous employees of our company have volunteered time to rabies elimination causes. This includes participating in rabies elimination and canine vaccination campaigns with Mission Rabies in India, Malawi, Uganda and Ghana. Additionally, in 2019, our United States commercial companion animal team joined veterinarians of the Veterinary Management Group (VMG) to donate resources and commit personal time to participate in rabies vaccination campaigns in India and Thailand. We look forward to continued collaboration with VMG to serve our global community in 2020.

World Rabies Day

Since 2016 the International Veterinary Health department of our Animal Health business has supported the World Rabies Day Awards in partnership with the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC). The World Rabies Day Awards raise awareness to the importance of rabies control in animals and provide valuable resources to individual winners working in rabies control around the world. The financial support provided by the awards allows winners to extend their impact on rabies control, often through buying much-needed vaccines or producing educational materials for communities. Through the online competition, awareness of rabies control is amplified through social media mentions and shares. In 2019, we recognized winners in Afghanistan, Nepal, India, Eswatini, Morocco and Chile.

Rabies Hero Awards

We are also committed to supporting rabies control leaders through our company’s recognition initiative: the Rabies Hero Awards. Initiated in 2020, the Rabies Hero Awards recognizes individuals engaged in rabies control through research, education, field vaccination, or caring for the community. Our Animal Health business gave awards to eight individuals between January and March of 2020 and looks forward to recognizing additional rabies control heroes in the years to come.

Afya Program

In the at-risk parts of Africa, India, and other regions, mass annual canine vaccination, reaching at least 70 percent of dogs, has been a proven effective way to eliminate the disease in both animals and humans. Donation of canine rabies vaccine doses, in addition to community education, contributes to a broader global initiative to eliminate canine-mediated rabies by the year 2030.

Afya Program has cumulatively donated three million doses of canine rabies vaccines.

Since 1996, we have supported the Afya Program which now comprises a number of rabies control projects and non-profit organizations whose vaccination-based campaigns are aimed at eliminating canine-mediated rabies. Through our rabies vaccine donations, the Afya Program supports Rabies Free Africa (formerly known as the Afya Serengeti Project) in Tanzania and Kenya, and, as of 2013, Mission Rabies, which focuses on rabies vaccination and education in Asia, Africa, and beyond.