The Tema Metropolitan Office of the Veterinary Services, in collaboration with the CERMES Foundation and the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA), would provide free rabies vaccination for dogs within the metropolis as part of World Rabies Day celebrations. World Rabies Day is set aside annually, to raise awareness and advocate for rabies elimination globally. Dr Emmanuel Pecku, the Tema Metro Vet Officer, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency said the celebration was designed to be inclusive, uniting people, organisations, and stakeholders across all sectors to fight against rabies. Dr Pecku said as part of the event, his outfit was collaborating with the one-health stakeholders, which include the Tema Metropolitan Health Directorate, to embark on community outreaches, to ensure that dogs within the metropolis were vaccinated to protect the populace from the zoonotic disease. He added that a free anti-rabies vaccination campaign would be held on September 27 and 28 in the Tema Metropolis and urged pet owners to take advantage to vaccinate their dogs. He said the free vaccination exercise was being funded by the Computer Education and Research in Medical Science (CERMES Foundation), a non-governmental organisation. Dr Pecku said as part of activities lined up for this year's World Rabies Day, which falls on 28th September 2024, on the theme 'Breaking Rabies Boundaries,' Veterinary Services would embark on awareness creation on rabies prevention and control in some selected basic schools in the Tema Metropolis from the 23rd to 26th of September 2024. He explained that it was important to send the rabies prevention message to schools, as according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), children under the age of 15 are the most vulnerable to dog bites and dog-mediated rabies cases. Miss Ernestina Antwi-Boasiako, an Administrator at CERMES Foundation, said the support was in line with their mission to ensure that communities get quality, accessible healthcare, adding that rabies is a serious public health treat and a neglected tropical disease that has fatal outcomes. Miss Antwi-Boasiako added that without proper education and awareness, countless number of children and adults could lose their lives to rabies. 'Our efforts aim to save lives and contribute to reducing the staggering global toll of 144 rabies deaths every day,' she said. She added that CERMES was supporting the rabies awareness campaign with 1000 doses of rabies vaccines, consumables, fuel for outreach vehicles, and others. She reiterated the need for the public to take advantage of the exercise to help curb deaths from rabies in their communities. Source: Ghana News Agency