Data from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has shown a steady increase in suspected rabies cases over the past three years.

In 2020, suspected rabies cases increased from 119, with 24 deaths to 140 cases, with 12 deaths in 2021.

Also, 203 suspected cases with 26 deaths were recorded in 2022 and 153 cases, with 10 deaths in the first half of 2023.

Dog bite, which is a good proxy for rabies, has also seen a similar upward trend with 15,296 cases in 2020, 16,364 cases in 2021, 16,644 cases in 2022 and 16,701 cases so far in 2023.

Majority of the suspected cases were in the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Eastern and Upper East regions.

The upsurge in cases has been attributed to low immunisation.

Campaign launch

The data was made known during the launch of the National Rabies Prevention Campaign organised by the Veterinary Services Directorate (VSD) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in the Madina Municipality yesterday.

The campaign was aimed at eliminating rabies by 2030 through intensifying education on dog vaccination every year.

The rabies vaccination costs GH₵25.

As part of the campaign, vaccination centres will be opened today and tomorrow in the municipality.

Rabies

In a speech read on his behalf, the Director-General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, said rabies was a viral disease contracted from bites or scratches of dogs, but could also be transmitted by cats, bats and foxes.

He said people with rabies showed symptoms such as fever, headache, excess salivation, hydrophobia, muscle spasms, paralysis, mental confusion and might eventually die.

The disease, Dr Kuma-Aboagye said, could be prevented through limited contact between humans and potentially rabid animals, immunising animals and responsible petting.

He indicated that the country joined the global call for the elimination of dog-mediated human rabies by 2030.

The GHS Director-General said that led to the development of the National Rabies Control and Prevention Action Plan, 2018-2030 which provided a blueprint on how to achieve the target.

He called on the public to be ambassadors of the message on rabies in their communities, workplaces and schools and ensure that their dogs were vaccinated.

The Chief Veterinary Officer, Dr Patrick Abakeh, refuted claims that vaccinated hunting dogs underperformed, noting that the vaccination and removal of stray dogs had been intermittent.

He, however, suggested that the global 10 per cent financial resources, which was being used to treat people bitten by potential rabid dogs, could be efficiently diverted into a sustained aggressive free mass vaccination campaign.

That, Dr Abakeh indicated, could be achieved progressively over a five-year persistent vaccination period within two months of a given year.

“We are hoping to sustain the campaign for five years to achieve 80 per cent of dogs vaccinated; now we have only 8.5 per cent.

What this means is that out of a 100 dogs, only nine have been vaccinated,” he said. 

Bye-laws

The Municipal Chief Executive of the La Nkwantanang Madina Municipal Assembly, Jennifer Dede Adjabeng, said the assembly would continue to intensify bye-laws on dogs.

As part of enforcing the laws on dogs, she said, the assembly impounded stray dogs and kept them for 14 days.

“In case the owners do not come for the dogs, the assembly disposes of them.

If the owners show up, they are made to pay a fine of up to 250 penalty units determined by prosecution or three months’ imprisonment,” Mrs Adjabeng said.

SOURCE: GraphicOnline