Rabies is a contagious disease that is transmitted between humans and animals. Dogs and cats are the source of the disease and spread to humans. People with rabies, once they have had an attack, cannot be treated, causing a tragic death. Determining that in order to eliminate rabies from the community, rabies control in dogs and cats is the most important factor. The specialized agency of the Provincial Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine proactively advised the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to submit to the Provincial People's Committee to issue many documents directing the implementation of the Rabies Prevention and Control Program, and annually allocate funds to implement rabies prevention and control measures.
In 2023, the Provincial People's Committee issued Directive 08/CT-UBND dated May 11, 2023 on strengthening urgent measures to prevent and control rabies, providing funding for rabies surveillance activities, proactive post-vaccination surveillance, propaganda work, inspection of rabies prevention and control at the grassroots level, etc., providing 56,650 doses of rabies vaccine to vaccinate epidemic areas, old epidemic areas, high-risk areas, areas for building rabies-safe facilities, and mountainous areas in Region III.
Since the beginning of the year, the professional sector has implemented solutions on propaganda on television, newspapers, documents, handbooks, inspection of rabies prevention and control at the grassroots level...; the province organized 3 training courses on state management of veterinary medicine for grassroots veterinary, disease surveillance, building facilities, animal disease-free zones, including rabies; districts organized 11 training courses on rabies prevention and control and skills in catching dogs for vaccination, handling rabies outbreaks and investigating outbreaks...
Since then, people have become aware of the dangers of rabies, so rabies vaccination of dogs and cats has gradually increased. As of October 2023, the number of dogs vaccinated was 169,417, reaching 60.09% of the plan (compared to the previous year, it was only more than 40% of the plan).
Thanks to people's awareness of the dangers of rabies and high vaccination rates, rabies has not yet occurred on a large scale in the province. Some small, isolated cases of rabies have been handled by ward and commune veterinary officers and local authorities. When there is information about an epidemic from the grassroots, the provincial Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine coordinates with the locality to handle the outbreak and vaccinate the outbreak promptly. Rabies surveillance sampling is carried out regularly in districts, cities and towns.
It can be affirmed that the cause of rabies in dogs and cats is due to the pathogen circulating in the large dog population. Dogs that have not been vaccinated do not have active immunity to the disease. Meanwhile, people are still subjective about rabies when bitten by infected dogs and do not go to medical facilities for timely rabies prevention treatment.
Mr. Dang Van Minh - Head of the Provincial Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine said that in recent times, the work of preventing and controlling rabies has achieved certain achievements. Authorities at all levels have really paid attention to the work of preventing and controlling rabies, especially at the grassroots level, which used to be left to the veterinary force, but now they have thoroughly grasped and directed departments and branches to coordinate and join hands to eliminate rabies from the community. Proactively detect early, contain small areas of rabies outbreaks in animals, limit damage and spread to humans. People understand that rabies is a disease originating from animals; identify domestic dogs as a high risk of rabies in humans, thereby raising awareness in preventing and controlling rabies, in rabies vaccination for dogs, in the management of domestic dogs, when people are bitten by dogs, they should immediately go for rabies preventive treatment, not use traditional medicine to treat rabies.
To minimize the impact of rabies, in the coming time, People's Committees at all levels need to be more proactive in planning and organizing the implementation of rabies prevention and control annually, and allocate budgets to ensure the implementation of activities. Mobilize resources to focus on implementing local rabies prevention and control solutions. Set disease prevention and control as a key task, further enhance the role of Party committees, authorities and grassroots organizations and unions in disease prevention. Manage the dog herd in the area well, annually organize rabies vaccination for 70% or more of the total herd.
Along with that, strictly handle violations of regulations on disease prevention, control and management of domestic dogs and cats. Closely coordinate with the Provincial Center for Disease Control to strengthen surveillance and control of rabies, detect and promptly handle cases of dogs with rabies or suspected rabies. Strengthen extensive propaganda through many forms, so that people clearly understand the dangerous nature of rabies, how to prevent and control rabies. Strengthen control, quarantine, and transport of dogs and strictly handle illegal dog transport according to veterinary law.
