Tuesday, December 1, 2015
US Veterinary Community Joins Global Fight Against Rabies
TULSA, OKLAHOMA—Brief Media—publisher of leading veterinary publication brands Clinician’s Brief, Veterinary Team Brief, and Plumb’s Therapeutics Brief—has partnered with Mission Rabies (missionrabies.com) for its Mega Vaccine Drive to vaccinate and educate on rabies. Through this partnership, Brief Media aims to help create a better veterinary world in support of veterinary professionals—and the clients and pets they serve—around the globe.
In partnership with Mission Rabies, Brief Media will undertake efforts to leverage the knowledge and skills of the veterinary community to promote animal health and human health in a humanitarian capacity. Brief Media will spread awareness of the campaign and collaborate with other organizations to send veterinarians and volunteers from the United States to Blantyre, Malawi, to participate. Volunteers will provide vaccinations and will engage local communities in rabies prevention education. There are 2 trips for which volunteers can register: April 29 to May 14, 2016, and May 13 to May 28, 2016.
“Brief Media was founded on the ideal of creating informative, novel content for the veterinary community in the effort to deliver health and well-being to companion animals. This burgeoning partnership with Mission Rabies allows our team to elevate exponentially our purpose by leveraging the knowledge and skill of veterinary professionals to save human lives as well as those of their pets,” says Elizabeth Green, Brief Media President.
The first Mission Rabies project was launched in India and has expanded to other high rabies-risk countries in Asia and Africa. The program aims to save human and animal lives by eliminating rabies at the source. A Malawi hospital records the highest incidence of child rabies deaths of any institution in Africa.
“Rabies can be stopped, and we have the know-how to do it—we just need others to join and make Mission Rabies a success,” writes Luke Gamble, Founder and CEO of Mission Rabies (missionrabies.com/theteam). “As veterinary professionals, this is our opportunity to really give something back.”
“The whole Mission Rabies team is excited about this partnership, giving the Clinician’s Brief readers the opportunity to engage with us and get involved in our international rabies-control programs,” says Frederic Lohr, International Liaison and Publicity Officer for Mission Rabies.
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 250 000 dogs, educated more than 300 000 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.