Mayhew Afghanistan on track to eliminate rabies in Kabul

As of June 2018, Mayhew Afghanistan has vaccinated an incredible 10,800 dogs through their mass canine rabies vaccination programme in the capital city of Kabul.

This figure is important as it signifies that 70% of the dog population in Kabul, as determined by the first ever population survey carried out by Mayhew International in 2015, has now been vaccinated against rabies.

This percentage figure is the accepted threshold required to reach in order to break the chain of virus transmission and start creating herd immunity in the area where the vaccination programme is happening.

It means that Mayhew Afghanistan’s team, together with the Kabul Municipality dog catchers are on track to reduce the risk of canine-mediated rabies in the city.

Following Mayhew’s successful negotiations with Kabul Municipality to bring an end to the inhumane practice of culling the free-roaming dogs by strychnine poisoning from January 2017 and with signed agreements with the relevant ministerial departments and city authorities in place, on 6 August 2017, Mayhew Afghanistan began implementing the first mass canine rabies vaccination programme in Kabul, covering the main 16 residential districts in the city. This is the first step in a long-term and sustainable strategy to eliminate rabies from the city in three years and in parallel develop a citywide dog population management programme.

Mayhew has also been able to retrain some of the Municipality dog-catchers who are now no longer catching to kill the dogs, but instead humanely catching them and acting as ambassadors for the programme with the local community.

The 2 teams of 12 dog catchers and vet-vaccinators work from early morning around 5am to noon, catching and vaccinating the dogs. The surveyor then goes out within 72 hours to the same areas to count the number of vaccinated dogs, compare it with the total number of dogs in that area according to the survey and ensure the level of at least 70% of the population has been vaccinated.

Mayhew’s Afghanistan Country Director, Dr Abdul Jalil Mohammadzai DVM, said: “The team are delighted that the programme has now vaccinated 70% of the population of dogs in Kabul in just over 11 months.

“A new dog population survey has recently been completed and this will provide data for the amount of dogs to be vaccinated as a minimum in year two of the mass canine rabies vaccination programme and be the basis of the dog population management plan.”

“We believe that informing and educating communities about the rabies virus and other diseases that can be transmitted between dogs and humans and how they are spread is key to rabies prevention, safe interaction with community dogs, compassion towards animals and improved public health. A win win situation for dogs and people alike.”

Mayhew Afghanistan is a branch of UK charity Mayhew that provides help, training and funding of vaccination programmes and animal birth control projects for thousands of animals around the world.

Article written by Caroline Yates, CEO of Mayhew