THE Department of Agriculture (DA) for Central Luzon, under the leadership of the Integrated Laboratory Division (ILD), held the celebration of World Rabies Day on September 28, 2021, online at Green Manor, San Juan in the City of San Fernando.
The celebration is in collaboration with the Bureau of Animal Industry (DA-BAI) and the Department of Health.
World Rabies Day was created to raise awareness and advocacy for rabies eradication around the world and is designed to unite all people, organizations, and stakeholders against rabies.
World Rabies Day is celebrated annually on the 28th of September. This date was chosen because it is the anniversary of the death of the first person to successfully create a vaccine against rabies, Louis Pasteur.
This year’s theme is “Rabies: Facts not Fear.” The theme was formed because people still have many false teachings, information and beliefs about the rabies vaccine that frighten them and their pets. It is similar to the Covid-19 vaccine, which many fear and doubt because of the misinformation they know.
This year, the theme focuses on spreading the right information regarding rabies and uniting everyone to achieve the goal of eliminating human mortality due to dog rabies by the year 2030.
In a message from Regional Technical Director for ILD, Regulatory and Research Arthur Dayrit, PhD, he mentioned that cooperation is needed to achieve zero rabies cases by 2030.
He also encouraged everyone to find out the right information on rabies and use what is learned and spread the information so that more people can be reached and made aware.