On Sunday, September 28th, the world will raise awareness and help prevent the spread of rabies through various events being held worldwide by different organizations. Some will be educational lectures and presentations while others will be fundraisers and low cost or free rabies vaccines clinics set up in cities around the globe. The annual event is in celebrating its 5th year and led by the Global Alliance for Rabies Control. The aim is to prevent human rabies-related deaths and to educate and alleviate the spread of it from animal to animal.
Rabies accounts for about 55,000 deaths a year in humans and is one of the most deadly but yet most preventable disease in the world. Most human rabies death occur in Africa and Asia and about 30 to 50% of these deaths occur in children under 15 who were bitten by an infected animal. All of these deaths could be prevented with proper medical care and proper control and administration of the vaccine to the dog population.