According to the Ministry of Agriculture, rabies in Ethiopia is getting worse and becoming a threat, and up to 2,700 people die every year.
According to the Executive Director of the Ministry of Animal and Public Health, Dr. Wubshet Zewde, the situation has become a big concern in other cities of the Ethiopian region, including Addis Ababa.
Many people are falling victim to rabies because stray dogs are seen on every street in urban areas.
The director added that children under the age of 15 are widely affected by the disease.
If up to 70 percent of dogs are vaccinated, the disease can be prevented from being transmitted from dogs to humans.
Ethiopia is working on various strategies to eliminate and control the canine disease by 2030 using the One Health method to prevent the disease from causing damage to people’s lives and well-being.
In the past two years, more than 347,000 stray dogs have been tracked to prevent rabies nationwide.
According to the World Health Organization, rabies occurs on every continent in the world except Antarctica.
Asia and Africa are the continents with the highest risk of rabies, while Western Europe, Singapore, and New Zealand are countries with no risk of rabies.
