Sunyani
November 28, 2024
An important community event has been held at Wamfie in the Dormaa East Municipality of the Bono Region to mark the end of three months of rabies prevention education for basic school children in the Bono Region.
Bono is among the regions in Ghana with large rural populations and heavy concentration of dogs used as guard dogs, pets and for hunting and food. The three months’ rabies prevention education campaign launched at the start of September was conducted to equip School Health Education Program (SHEP) Officers, teachers, the school children, their parents and other members of the school community with reliable information to enable them learn to live safely with their dogs and cats in their communities.
Most especially, the program was directed at enabling basic school children, their teachers and other members of the school community to learn appropriate ways of preventing deaths caused by rabies through the bites or scratches of dogs. In all, 10 of the 12 Municipal and District Assemblies in the Bono Region benefitted from the program leading to training of more than 90,000 basic school children and about 12,800 teachers, SHEP Officers, parents and other members of the school community.
Speaking at the community event, the Dormaa East Municipal Director of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr. Philip Adom Danso stated, “In the case of rabies and the dangers it poses to life, we are vulnerable but our children are the most vulnerable. Together, let us continue to forge a future where no child in our communities will suffer from the preventable agony of rabies. With the education provided by this program we should feel empowered in our mission to educate, protect and save lives.”
The Bono Region Veterinary Officer Dr. Joakim Darko on his part reminded all families in the region to ensure their pet animals such as dogs and cats are vaccinated when they are due. The large number of dogs in our communities should not become repositories of death for our children and all other persons who may suffer from scratches and bites of these dogs. Rabies does not come from witchcraft. It is a killer disease transmitted by by dogs and other such animals. Regular vaccination against rabies saves lives,” Dr. Darko emphasized.
Mr. Emmanuel Fiagbey, Executive Director of Communication Initiatives for Change (CIC) a Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs (JHU-CCP) Sister Organanisation which led the three months’ rabies prevention education campaign thanked the Veterinary Services (VSD) of Ghana, the Ghana Education Service and its SHEP and the GHS for their commitment to the partnership which made the rabies prevention campaign very successful. He particular thanked the French Pharmaceutical Company BI Animal Health France for providing the funds for this life saving educational effort. Mr. Fiagbey further called on the educational authorities to ensure rabies prevention becomes a regular activity in all school health education program activities. This, it is hoped will contribute to the achievement of the global and national goal of achieving zero death from rabies by 2030.
Open air dramatic performances, poetry recitals and exhibition of children’s artworks depicting dog bite and rabies prevention scenarios by school children from the various districts demonstrated how knowledgeable the children have become about dog bites and rabies prevention. As part of the day’s event over 100 dogs brought from various homes in Wamfie and surrounding communities were vaccinated.
