(From left) Kam, Farina, Scott and Sponseller look on as Tan speaks to the press after the sharing session has concluded.
KUCHING (Nov 5): Government support and awareness of animal vaccination are the key factors in eliminating rabies disease from threatening both animals and humans, said veterinary expert Dr Farina Mustaffa Kamal.
Farina also pointed out the inefficiency of conducting mass indiscriminate culling of animals to overcome the rabies endemic that has been plaguing many countries in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia.
“In many rural areas located in Southeast Asian countries, rabies vaccines are not easily accessible, and of course, in terms of knowledge about rabies itself, there is misinformation about the significance of seeking treatment for potential rabies after dog bites,” said Farina.
She said this during one of the sharing sessions held in conjunction with the Federation of Asian Veterinary Association (Fava) Congress 2023 at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here yesterday.
Farina is the head of the Department of Veterinary Pathology and Microbiology at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Universiti Putra Malaysia.
Citing a country that has successfully mitigated the rabies outbreak, Farina said the Philippines has in fact enacted an Anti-Rabies Act to promote rabies awareness education in the school’s curriculum to safeguard against the deadly disease.
“Equally, cross-border collaboration is important because in Sarawak, the source of rabies is Kalimantan in Indonesia. Not only does there need to be a collaboration between different agencies within a country, but also cross-border collaboration is important to mitigate rabies disease.”
She remarked that cooperation should also be established with other industry partners and institutions to set up a vaccine bank.
For an anti-rabies strategy to be effective, Farina said all stakeholders must play their respective role to overcome the endemic, including conducting awareness campaigns, mass animal vaccination, and surveillance activities.
She said a pilot project can be carried out by the Sarawak government to offer oral rabies vaccination for animals to study its efficiency before rolling it out on a larger scale.
“Engaging the community leaders is also important to carry out a dog census because they know the dogs in their areas, including those free-roaming dogs. I got to know that community leaders in Bau have been engaged to do the census, and that is a good start. Probably, we can expand it to other areas.”
Moreover, Farina advocated for strong government engagement and support for activities related to overcoming the rabies endemic to ensure such activities are sustainable in the long run.
A panellist from a research-driven biopharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, Dr Tan Do Yew, meanwhile, said data collection is important for rabies elimination, prevention, and control, and each country requires a different strategy to effectively overcome the disease.
“One of the key challenges is bringing vaccines down the cold chain to the rural areas. Our team has these coolers and containers to bring vaccines, along with syringes and needles, to the rural communities,” he said.
Tan concurred that awareness about rabies vaccination must be prioritised for a country to be free from the disease, as well as instilling responsible pet ownership among the public.
Besides, Global Alliance for Rabies Control programmes director Dr Terence Scott said targeted euthanasia should be preferred, as mass indiscriminate culling of animals has been proven scientifically to be ineffective in tackling the rabies endemic.
Among those present were panellist Dr Jerlyn K Sponseller from Boehringer Ingelheim, Head of Animal Health at Boehringer Ingelheim Malaysia/Singapore/Indonesia Dr Kam Kok Yen and moderator Robin Hicks.