The County Government of Kisumu has kicked off a free mass vaccination of dogs and cats as a way of eliminating human rabies transmitted by dogs.
Deputy Governor Dr. Mathew Owili said that immunizing dogs will wipe out rabies as a human threat.
Owili told the residents of Kisumu to cooperate with officers going around the villages to vaccinate dogs and cats.
“It is my appeal to our people to be cooperative so that we can help them by not contracting rabies from dogs whenever they are bitten by a dog,” he said.
Owili said that the vaccines are available and what is needed is an implementation strategy and desire from the veterinarians to do so.
He announced that the county government was committed to double the number of vaccinations from the previous results.
Speaking in Kisumu on Thursday during a celebration to mark World Rabies Day, with a theme “End Rabies by 2030”, Owili said ending rabies did not need basic research but implementation.
The Deputy Governor announced that cases of rabies have been diagnosed recently in the county and its spread must be stopped.
“We have received reports of rabies cases in Kisumu East and Seme sub-counties and our officers moved to the ground and addressed the issues, we will not relent,” he said.
Owili said that there is a need for increased communication, awareness and education to promote responsible dog ownership and dog population management practices.