Celebrating World Rabies Day 2021 with #Rabies360Challenge

MARTA NOWAK
Marketing Lead, International Veterinary Health

It’s World Rabies Day, and people around the globe are taking action to help towards rabies elimination. Many of them came together through #Rabies360Challenge, raising awareness about the impact of rabies and its prevention.

Every dog vaccinated against rabies, every dog behaviour training, each lesson about rabies and responsible dog ownership, and every single #Rabies360Challenge post on social media, are getting us one tiny step closer to achieving the global goal of ending rabies deaths by 2030. There is still a long way until we reach #ZeroBy30, but we are making progress. Together, we can eliminate this disease. Why is it important? Here are some rabies facts:

Rabies is one of the most lethal viruses on earth and causes 60,000 deaths every year – one person dies of rabies every nine minutes!
Over 40% of victims are children, mainly in Africa and Asia.
Rabies is a zoonotic disease – almost 100% of deaths result from dog bites.
Rabies is preventable with dog vaccination.

Here’s to the amazing #Rabies360Challenge 2021 participants who were spreading the rabies elimination message with us throughout September! Have a look at some wonderful examples of the challenges taking place around the globe …

Walking… lots of walking, running and taking dogs out…

… and making sure they have fun, including letting them sniff around in local shops, and organizing other activities.

Refurbishing a metal kennel.

Andrea is raising money for rabies vaccinations.

Bronwyn is doing the environment clean up as part of her lovely pledge of “360 min of sprinkling kindness on mankind, animals & the environment”.

Danielle and Marika go for 360 minutes of reading.

Claire is making 360 video clips of dog tricks.

Jean collects 360 items of dog and cat food or treats.

Brigitte and her colleagues committed collectively to 360 minutes of stair climb from the UK (home) office.

Lucille is feeding dogs at a local squatter camp.

And Claire keeps bridging the gap in rabies awareness with her hula hoop, engaging with local communities in South Africa, and organizing rabies events anywhere she can.

There were many, many more pledges for #Rabies360Challenge and you can see more here.

MARTA NOWAK

Marketing Lead, International Veterinary Health

PHOTO CREDITS: #RABIES360CHALLENGE PARTICIPANTS

Participation is entirely voluntary and at the participants own risk. MSD Animal health accepts no liability. Your participation may result in your #Rabies360Challenge posts, including photos and videos, being shared through emergence channels (website and social media).