Global and local unite: How we’re breaking down barriers through the power of partnerships
Rabies claims over 59,000 lives every year, with children making up 40% of the victims. This is tragic. Especially when you realize that rabies is 100% preventable. Through dog vaccinations, we can protect human lives and help eliminate rabies. In our global fight against rabies, partnerships are crucial. No single organization can take on this massive challenge alone. No single community should be left alone. Thus, collaboration among global, regional, and local players is essential to reaching people in the last mile and eliminating rabies.
This is where our South African story unfolds: With the 'Learn & Earn' campaign, a collaboration between Boehringer Ingelheim, the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC), and Khula Outreach, a local NGO committed to developing veterinary training programs. This initiative was born out of a surprising revelation – the need for accurate information regarding rabies prevention.
A shocking gap in rabies knowledge
Dr. Charlotte Philip and Dr. Michelle Markram, the owners of Khula Outreach, remember well: “We were shocked by the incorrect advice doctors and nurses in Health Departments sometimes gave the public about dog bites. People were told, ‘The bite isn’t deep, no need to worry,’ or the facility didn’t stock post-exposure treatment and patients weren’t followed up with correctly.”
They saw a need to educate the entire veterinary staff, from management to kennel assistants. These people often live in areas with limited access to veterinary services, creating a ripple effect in these underserved communities. With the problem identified, Khula Outreach decided to promote the GARC certification program to spread awareness, leverage knowledge about rabies, and develop an inclusive learning opportunity.
Charlotte and Michelle approached GARC and Boehringer Ingelheim to see if we could collaborate on a pilot initiative to educate people about rabies in the high-risk provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape.
“I know Khula Outreach well, having collaborated for several years on other rabies-related initiatives. When Charlotte presented the ‘Learn & Earn’ proposal, I knew it was perfectly aligned with our global strategy of raising awareness and education on rabies,” explains Michelle Enslin, our Regional Product Manager Pets (India, Middle East, Turkey & Africa), who elevated the collaboration to a global level.
The ‘Learn & Earn’ pilot was launched in 2024 and has been a first success: instead of the expected 200, over 550 participants registered on the platform to gain certification. But the journey to end rabies is far from over. Plans are already being made to further roll out the 'Learn & Earn' campaign. In 2025, Khula Outreach’s goal is to educate around 47,500 schoolchildren in the high-risk areas for rabies in KwaZulu-Natal.
Looking to the future, we share Charlotte and Michelle’s conclusion: "Educating children about how to care for their pets and safely interact with dogs is a way we empower our future generation of pet owners."
Stop Rabies – a committed program in action
Because they lack access to vaccines and awareness programs, many underserved communities, in particular in remote areas, still struggle to combat the threat of rabies and its lethal outcome. Through our ‘Stop Rabies’ program, we deliver high-quality vaccines and support education and surveillance initiatives in collaboration with local partners. Over the past 20 years, we have delivered over 1.5 billion doses of rabies vaccine worldwide. We’ve done this in partnership with health authorities, governments, NGOs, health professionals, pet owners and local communities.
But we cannot do this alone. The Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC), united with WHO, WOAH (formerly OIE) and FAO, is aiming to eliminate rabies through its ‘Zero by 30’ goal, a global strategic plan to end human deaths from dog-transmitted rabies by 2030. Last year, we signed a three-year collaboration agreement with GARC to implement dog vaccination programs to raise awareness by continuing to educate local communities, health professionals, and veterinarians all over the world to achieve this goal.
These activities were only possible through the collaboration of GARC, regional Boehringer Ingelheim resources and local communities. Together, we can shape a future where rabies is a threat of the past. Together, we can stop rabies.
Interview with Dr. Andre Coetzer, Technical Director for Rabies, GARC
GARC was introduced to Khula Outreach by the Boehringer Ingelheim team in South Africa at the end of 2022. They believed that the tools and resources offered by GARC would prove valuable to Khula Outreach and its various activities. During the initial discussions, the GARC Education Platform and its educational courses were discussed in great detail. Khula Outreach immediately saw the value in them and their routine use. Since that initial introduction, GARC and Khula Outreach have maintained communication regarding various potential avenues for collaboration.
While the project’s overall impact is difficult to measure at such an early stage, we can clearly show that South Africa had an additional 200 certified rabies educators, equipped with the latest information needed to teach people about rabies, its prevention, and animal welfare in general.
Furthermore, the diverse staff members (veterinarians, vet nurses, receptionists, and clinic managers) who participated in the first round of the initiative highlight a need for detailed information among all client-facing staff members.
To the best of my knowledge, this was the first large-scale rabies education/awareness campaign in South Africa, reaching animal health professionals across the country. In addition, this campaign not only wanted to create awareness for the issue, but also aimed to empower participants with a unique certificate of achievement – thus enabling stakeholders to upskill themselves.
Yes. Now that the campaign has proven to be successful in the first round, the methodology can be fine-tuned and replicated to include additional at-risk sub-populations, including school children, teachers, and animal welfare groups. These can become important ambassadors for their communities.
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