28 September is World Rabies Day, it is celebrated annually to raise awareness about rabies prevention and to highlight progress in defeating this horrifying disease. This day also marks the anniversary of Louis Pasteur's death, the French chemist and microbiologist, who developed the first rabies vaccine.

Today, safe and efficacious animal and human vaccines are among the important tools that exist to eliminate human deaths from rabies while awareness is the key driver for success of communities to engage in effective rabies prevention.

The World Rabies Day 2018 theme is Rabies: Share the message. Save a life. This highlights the importance of education and awareness to prevent rabies. You can use this at many levels to share different messages, from the policy-level message to governments, to community-level messages about vaccinating dogs and treating bite wounds, and dog bite prevention education for school children.

This year the Animal Husbandry Department Kashmir has taken an initiative towards raising awareness and preventing this zoonotic disease by educating school children through this week and a free vaccination camp for dogs and cats on Saturday 29th September at Central Veterinary Hospital Srinagar.


Dr Asgar Hassan Samoon (IAS)