The Aiko Adade Foundation in conjunction with Veterinary Services Department, has vaccinated over 100 dogs and cats in the Akpafu Odomi community in the Guan District of the Oti Region.
The free exercise is to protect animals from contracting and spreading rabies as well as prevent rabies deaths in humans.
Miss Aiko Adade, Ghana’s National Ambassador for Rabies Eradication and the Executive Director of the Aiko Adade Foundation, noted that rabies vaccination was a very important exercise to make communities rabies-free.
She said vaccinations were one of the single most important ways or means that could help eradicate rabies in communities, districts, regions, country and as well as the world globally hence the need to vaccinate pets every year.
Miss Adade said research by the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, as well as the World Organization for Animal Health of the UN, realized that once a community was able to vaccinate 70 per cent of the pets in the community over a sustained period of about five years, that the community could be adjudged to be rabies-free.
She said it was also important that as a pet owner, they took adequate care of their pets, made sure that their environment was fenced, kept their pets contained in an area, fed the pets daily and give them clean water daily.
Miss Adade urged pet owners to take their pets to the vet and them vaccinated when necessary because as a pet owner, that was their responsibility adding that “your responsibility is not to just buy a dog or get a dog because it is cute and then leave the animal to its fate.”
She commended the community for their commitment to making sure that their pets were always in good health since the number of pets vaccinated had showed an increased from the last exercise undertaken in the community.
Miss Aiko Adade is also the first runner-up for Ghana’s Most Beautiful for 2022.
Madam Cecilia Kitsi, Guan District Veterinary Officer, said anti-rabies was a great help for pets especially dogs since rabies had no medicine for its treatment.
She said most people were unable to vaccinate their pets against rabies due to the unavailability of vaccines hence the exercise would go a long way to put the pets in good health as well as protect the community.
Madam Kitsi called on the Foundation to cover the whole Guan District in its rabies vaccination.
Mr Williams Pewudie, farmer, expressed gratitude to the Foundation for the exercise adding that it had saved cost and stress to vaccinate their dogs and cats for the year.
Madam Nyame Fortune, trader said they were grateful for the free exercise because they once had a veterinary officer who visited the community for rabies vaccination and charged GH₵50 for each pet.
She said the exercise by the Foundation had not only saved cost but had placed the community in a safe environment where they would have no fears of rabies at least for a year and further pleaded for the exercise to be continued.
Story By Kekeli K. Blamey
