An NGO is conducting a Rabies Elimination Campaign to prevent rabies in Machakos County.
Africa Network for Animals Welfare (ANAW) in collaboration with Vet treks, Kenya Society for Protection and Care of Animals, national and Machakos governments are conducting the three-day campaign as a pilot project in Machakos County.ANAW’s director of programs Dennis Makau said the campaign is part of the National Rabies Elimination Strategy for Kenya.“The objective of this project is that Kenya becomes a rabies-free country by the year 2030,” Makau said.Makau addressed the press at Katine Technical Training Institute at Matungulu in Machakos County on Friday.He said the pilot project launched in five counties namely; Machakos, Makueni, Kitui, Kisumu and Siaya in 2014 will take three years before the real project is rolled out in other counties across the country.Makau said the real project will take 15 years. He said they will use lessons learned from the pilot projects to improve the national eradication campaign to be efficient and effective.“As a component of the campaign, we are carrying out a Spray and Neuter Campaign aimed at controlling dogs’ population in the county through a surgical procedure,” Makau said.Makau said the initiative was meant to manage the rate of dogs production in Machakos County.“There are lots of roaming dogs in Machakos County, many cases of human dog bites were reported during the dry season last year,” Makau added.He said there were many free-ranging dogs moving from homesteads to towns hence creating an increase in risks for dog bites in urban centers.“This campaign is meant to sensitize the community on responsible pet ownership and offer free services that would be otherwise expensive to common ‘mwananchi’ to help manage dog population,” Makau said.Makau said the procedure takes averagely Sh7,000 on male dogs and between Sh10,000 to Sh15,000 on female ones, prizes that many Kenyans cannot afford.He said they were offering the services freely with a target of 200 – 300 dogs within the three days starting Friday.Makau said from the study the organization did, there are approximately 259,000 dogs in Machakos County.To be the first to get updates on breaking and trending news in Kenya, send your WhatsApp number to 0792066259.