Journey Towards a Rabies Free Philippines

A big part of eliminating human deaths from canine rabies is educating local communities about rabies and how to avoid contracting it.

A group of intrepid students recently set out to create a series of documentary-style films about rabies awareness and prevention in local communities in Sorsogon and Ilocos Norte in the Philippines. They are Development Communication students from the University of the Philippines Los Baños. This project is for one of their subjects, DEVC 126 – Participatory Development Journalism.

Between them they created 5 videos covering education, policy and providing fascinating snapshots into the lives and jobs of the people who work in healthcare and rabies prevention in the provinces.

You can watch all of the videos below:

Panaghoy sa Bulan (Mourning in Bulan)

Namnama (Hope) for the North

Education for a Rabies Free Ilocos Norte

Panagtutunos (Accord): Journey Towards a Rabies Free Ilocos Norte

For them, it was an opportunity to hone their multimedia skills in telling community stories while for us it’s been an opportunity to see how rabies prevention is being prioritized and implemented on a micro level.

Below are some quotes from some of the students about what they’ve learnt and got out of the experience:

Aikha Gene R. Liveta - ‘I’ve been inspired [by] the will of the people and the local government to fight rabies’

Ariana Ruby E Alcala - ‘This fieldwork will be one of the most memorable for me because it let me see how collective action of community members can make a big difference’

Dana Faurillo - ‘The situation in Ilocos Norte  could be a model for us, and for the other areas of the country  to also be able to  step up against rabies.