Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Partnership Enters Second Year, Aims to Save Human & Animal Lives Worldwide
TULSA, OKLAHOMA—Brief Media—publisher of leading veterinary publication and reference brands Clinician’s Brief, Veterinary Team Brief, Plumb’s Therapeutics Brief, and Plumb’s Veterinary Drugs—has renewed its volunteer partnership with Mission Rabies (missionrabies.com) for a second year.
In the continued effort to eliminate rabies and increase awareness, Brief Media will collaborate with Mission Rabies and other volunteer sponsors to send veterinary professionals on a second trip to Malawi for 1 of 2 Mega Vaccine Drives: the first drive is scheduled for April 15 to April 29, 2017, and the second for May 6 to May 20, 2017.
While in Malawi, volunteers will administer rabies vaccinations at static clinics; walk door-to-door to deliver free vaccinations; educate communities about the danger of rabies; and deliver lessons on responsible dog ownership, dog bite prevention, and dog bite first aid treatment.
“Mission Rabies is really excited about working with Brief Media to enable volunteers from all around the world to join our rabies project in Blantyre, Malawi,” says Frederic Lohr, global operations officer for Mission Rabies. “We had a fantastic start of our partnership last year, and Mission Rabies is looking forward to our work together in the future.”
Brief Media began its partnership with Mission Rabies—a UK-based, nonprofit organization—in 2015 with the goal to create a better veterinary world, one in which rabies is eliminated by 2030. In April and May of 2016, Brief Media and Mission Rabies sent several volunteers to vaccinate dogs in Blantyre, Malawi, where one hospital records the highest incidence of child rabies deaths of any institution in Africa. In just 2 weeks, volunteers vaccinated more than 19 000 dogs and provided rabies education to 60 000 children.
With this renewed partnership, Brief Media will continue leveraging the knowledge and skills of the veterinary community to promote animal and human health in a humanitarian capacity.
“Partnering with Mission Rabies to collaboratively save pet and human lives is an essential project in our mission to create a better veterinary world,” says Elizabeth Green, Brief Media CEO and founder.
For more information, or to volunteer for the Mega Vaccine Drive, contact Jessie Foley (volunteers@briefmedia.com).
About Mission Rabies
Having witnessed the devastating effect of rabies firsthand, Luke Gamble, CEO of the UK-based charity Worldwide Veterinary Service (WVS), launched Mission Rabies in September 2013. Since then, Mission Rabies, with the help of local and international volunteers, has vaccinated more than 380 000 dogs, educated more than 622 000 children on rabies risk reduction, and trained more than 70 Indian veterinarians in humane Animal Birth Control (ABC) techniques.
The majority of the people who die from rabies are children from poor and marginal communities, and over 99% of human cases of rabies are the result of dog bites. In response to these statistics, Mission Rabies aims to vaccinate at least 70% of the canine population in rabies-endemic areas.
The campaign is led by local animal welfare charities in the project countries. The support team in the UK is led by Luke Gamble, with Dogs Trust and MSD Animal Health as the key international sponsors.