I am writing on Rabies yet again. This time I am sharing a new initiative that we have taken and it is worth mentioning. Rabies is such an important issue that it needs to be talked over and over again. Plenty of people like to do plenty of things to prevent rabies, still our efforts seems to produce no meaningful dent on the burden of the disease, but as we know from Quran that if we save the life of one human being, it is like saving the whole humanity.
We have been discussing this issue of Rabies among our colleagues and came up with the idea to start this program called PRADE. It stands for Prevention of Rabies After Dogbite Exposure, We have partnered with Shifa Foundation to start this initiative. Shifa Foundation has expertise in public service projects and was eager to start this initiative for the very obvious reasons.
Our emphasis is on disseminating the information regarding the post exposure prophylaxis. With the post exposure prophylaxis, the target population is identifiable and their point of contact to the healthcare community is also identified. Whenever a victim of dog bite reaches to any healthcare setting, those facilities should be able to provide them with accurate and adequate information and guide them to the place which can give them appropriate prophylaxis. Those points of contact should also know how to care for a dog bite wound. This way a safety net would be created in which the patients get required information and the post exposure prophylaxis that they need. This way we can prevent plenty of cases of Rabies.
We do understand that it requires lot of education and also reaching out to the practitioners, hospitals, clinics and all those people who get to see the dog bite victims first hand. We also need to make sure that the patients get properly vaccinated as well as get the immunoglobulin that they require. In other words they are both given active and passive immunity. Due to its cost the immunoglobulin are out of the reach of scores of people. We are also trying to come up with a plan to subsidize the cost for the people who can’t afford the treatment. This is enormous task but at the same time noble and worthy.
We will educate the people regarding post exposure prophylaxis and at the same time discuss the issues of stray dogs, Animal vaccination and also the instructions about keeping safe distance from the wild and other animals at the same time. Although a lot can be said about Rabies, but it is worthwhile to do small things as opposed to talking alot.
I can be reached at ERDOC@Shifa.com.pk.