Afya Serengeti project - Intervet UK

‘Afya Serengeti’ means ‘Health for Serengeti’ in Swahili

Helping to control the incidence of animal and human rabies in north-western Tanzania is a key focus for Intervet UK this year and as such, the company will be signing up veterinary practices and dog owners alike to support the ‘Afya Serengeti’ project.

The ‘Afya Serengeti’ project, run by the Centre of Tropical Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, aims to bring widespread canine vaccination to this famous nature reserve in a big to eradicate the rabies threat for humans and animals alike. The company will donate one dose of its Nobivac® Rabies vaccine to the project for every does that is used by veterinary practices across the country.

The concept behind the ‘Afya Serengeti’ project initiative is simple. For every dose of Nobivac Rabies that is used in practice in the UK, an equivalent dose will be shipped out to the Serengeti. The plight of rabies in third-world countries is much more server than is generally recognized. Every year in Africa up to 25,000 people die from this disease – most of them children. It is disturbing to note that only 100-200 cases are officially recorded.

Rabies has also been a major factor in the decline of highly-endangered wildlife species such as the African wild dog population in the Serengeti, and with the domestic dog populations around the park growing so rapidly, the threat of disease transmission from dogs to humans continues to increase.

The good news is that controlling rabies is entirely possible. In the Serengeti, as throughout much of the developing world, dogs are the major source of infection and vaccination can effectively control the disease, not only in dogs, but also in humans, livestock and wildlife. Rabies is a totally preventable disease; the vaccines and tools are available – therefore, there is little excuse for not doing more to control it!