Workshop on Evidence Based Decision for Rabies Being Held
A two days workshop on Evidence Based Decision for Rabies Prevention and Control in Addis Ababa city is being held in the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) which is organized by the Institute’s Parasitic, Bacteriology and Zoonosis Directorate (PBZD) in collaboration with Center for Disease Control (CDC) starting from August 2, 2017.
The workshop aims to strengthen and bring forth the fragmented effort of different stakeholders including public health professionals towards the successful implementation of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) rabies project and realization for elimination of rabies in Addis Ababa city.
“It is known that EPHI has been working solely to prevent and control rabies in the country, especially on producing vaccine for the disease and carrying out laboratory examinations. Rabies has been known to exist in the country since 1903,” said PBZD’s Zoonosis Case Team Coordinator Dr. Assefa Deressa.
Dr. Assefa also, on his research presentation explained that there are about 230000 up to 300000 dogs in Addis Ababa out of which only 30% have owners. In the years from 1990 to 2000 many people were bitten by dogs and 22219 of them received treatment in EPHI and the national survey on rabies indicated that many people in rural areas are bitten by dogs and three out of hundred people die by rabies.
Dr. Abebe Wessene, USAID’s representative also presented that in the world 60% of human diseases are transmitted by animals.
“The society’s cultural, economic, political situations and globalization are the major causes for this. Therefore it is important to work in collaboration to control and prevent the disease,” added Dr. Abebe.
All sub city Health , Trade and Industry, Police Offices in Addis Ababa including Addis Ababa Trade and Industry Bureau, Addis Ababa Health Bureau and Addis Ababa City administration are participating on the workshop.
Worldwide, rabies is known to result an estimated loss of more than 55000 human lives per annum notably in developing countries. Despite the 100% preventable nature of the disease, more than 2700 human deaths per year are estimated in Ethiopia.