Every year, the world celebrates ‘World Rabies Day’ to raise awareness about rabies disease. The day aims to bring the world together to enhance prevention and control efforts across the world. The day is celebrated on September 28, annually.
Rabies is a zoonotic disease and is transmitted from animals to humans via the saliva of infected animals. Some common symptoms of the disease are – Fever, Headache, Nausea, Vomiting, Anxiety and Difficulty swallowing.
As per the WHO, “It is celebrated annually to raise awareness about rabies prevention and to highlight progress in defeating this horrifying disease.”
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“World Rabies Day is the first and only global day of action and awareness dedicated to rabies prevention. It is an opportunity to unite as a community - helping individuals, civil society, and governments to connect and share their work,” informs the official website of Global Alliance for Rabies Control.
World Rabies Day 2021: Theme
This year the day would be celebrated under the theme – “Rabies: Facts, not Fear.”
This year’s theme is focused on sharing facts about rabies, and not spreading fear about the disease by relying on misinformation and myths.
As per the global alliance, we should use facts to raise awareness and educate others about rabies – a 99% fatal, yet 100% preventable disease. The word fear has three meanings in this year’s theme. Firstly, it relates to the general fear caused by rabies, the fear people experience when encountering rabid animals, and the fear that people live within communities plagued by rabies. The second meaning relates directly to the symptom of fear that people may experience when infected with rabies. Lastly, fear relates to the fear caused by ‘fake news’ or myths about rabies.
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World Rabies Day 2021: Background
The first Rabies Day was celebrated in 2007 and was organised by the two founding partners namely Alliance for Rabies Control (ARC) and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta (CDC).
The day was selected as September 27, because on this day Louis Pasteur, the French chemist and microbiologist, who developed the first successful vaccination against rabies, died.
World Rabies Day 2021: OpenWHO.org
On this World Rabies Day 2021, WHO in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health, under the partnership created by the United Against Rabies Forum has launched on OpenWHO.org.
OpenWHO.org is a free, online course on how we can prevent this zoonotic disease in humans and control it in dogs and other animals.