12 Mar 2020
Charity plans to vaccinate 100,000 dogs in 10 days in Cambodia and needs “awesome Vet Times readers” to volunteer.
David Woodmansey
Job Title
Marking of a vaccinated dog in Cambodia in 2019.
Mission Rabies, the UK charity at the forefront of rabies elimination worldwide, is seeking volunteers to join its greatest project to date this November.
The volunteers will be part of a pioneering project in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where a child dies every week from rabies.
The team’s mission will be to vaccinate 100,000 dogs in 10 days to protect the human population from this deadly, but entirely preventable, disease.
Mission Rabies founder and chief executive Luke Gamble said: “This vital project is the ultimate challenge. Put simply, we must stop the needless deaths of these kids.
“It’s completely in our power and we’re honoured to be supporting the Cambodian government with the mission.
“Now we need awesome Vet Times readers to join us in this incredible country to ensure we vaccinate the magic number of 100,000 dogs.”
The concentrated vaccination drive runs for two weeks – from the 14 to 28 November 2020 – with volunteers able to join for either week, or the full campaign.
To vaccinate enough dogs, Mission Rabies requires an army of passionate and driven volunteers from veterinary and non-veterinary backgrounds. Together, they will form vaccination teams – visiting households door to door to ensure every dog in every neighbourhood is vaccinated.
The teams will also cover data capture and post-vaccination surveys to ensure the right number of dogs are vaccinated.
The charity is bringing extensive experience and knowledge to the project – having been protecting communities in rabies hotspots for the past seven years.
In total, it has vaccinated more than 1.2 million dogs and educated more than 3 million children to reduce human deaths within its key project sites to zero.
