World Rabies Day 2021: Theme, Date, History & Significance

World Rabies Day is celebrated by taking stock of current rabies control measures, rate of rabies control, events in the public domain, including interviews and press conferences, bike rallies, campaigns, sponsored walks, vaccination camps, etc.

World Rabies Day 2021

September 28th is annually celebrated as World Rabies Day. This day meant for launching campaigns, initiatives by NGOs, social media publicity and other awareness programs as part of the rabies prevention drive. The global rabies community, in particular, plays a pivotal role in helping communities to tackle this disease and raise awareness on the international platform.

World Rabies Day 2021 – History

The first celebration happened on September 8th, 2007. The event was a collaboration between Alliance for Rabies Control and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, USA. Together with the World Health Organization (WHO), these two funding entities, the world organization for animal health, amongst many other organizations, were the first to kick-start an awareness creation day for both human and animal rabies.

World Rabies Day 2021 Theme

Let us now come across popular themes associated with International Rabies Day over the past few years:

• The World Rabies Day 2021 theme is not decided yet. The theme for the year 2020 was “End Rabies: Collaborate, Vaccinate”.
• The year 2019 came forth to vaccination necessities for pets. The theme concentrated on “Rabies: Vaccinate to eliminate”. The year 2019 came to terms with the need of the hour, providing proper vaccination essentials to animals, especially canines, to keep away from the disease.
• The year 2018 had a much broader theme titled “Rabies: Share the message, save a life”. The theme broadly encompassed all channels for a greater spread of awareness and education amongst communities.
• The year 2017 had a fascinating theme – “Rabies: Zero by 30”. The year 2017 focused on canine rabies prevention and structured strategies to end the dreaded disease by 2030.

We have reached 2021, reminding ourselves that rabies elimination has an upscale of another ten years to go by. Government bodies have to collaborate with self-help groups, local, national, and international organizations to eliminate rabies effectively. The appropriate measures to stop rabies spread right from the source are among the top agenda theme for the current year.

Why is World Rabies Day Celebrated?

Close to 60,000 people die of the dreaded disease annually in global statistics. Underdeveloped African nations are one of the biggest victims of this disease. Nearly 20,000 deaths are reported in India too!

Health organizations all over the world chose to impact their efforts on controlling this disease. They took measures to set up global teams to prevent and monitor the condition, track the outbreak in affected communities and finally adopt preventive measures to eradicate it.

Celebrations around rabies prevention usually focus on vaccination camps at the forefront. Not one, nor two, but en-masse participation and camping events should play a pivotal role in celebrations.
Marathon runs sponsored by health firms and veterinary groups etc., also belong to the day’s celebration.

Other parts of the celebration include quiz competitions, essay writing events, press conferences, interviews from experts in the field, visits to pet care centres, veterinary awareness campaigns and fun activities at schools and educational institutions.

World Rabies Day 2021 Significance

Most people worldwide are not aware of rabies disease, how it affects humans and animals and what to do when contracting the disease. Rabies is contracted through all mammals and especially wild animals. September 28th is an important date in medical history on account of Louis Pasteur’s death anniversary.

IF you’re pondering who Louis Pasteur is, then we shall explain to you in detail. The person who brought forward a breakthrough discovery by finding a rabies vaccine was none other than Louis Pasteur himself.

He was the first to study the prevention of rabies and formulate a suitable solution for its cure. This critical day serves as an ode to the late personality. His extraordinary work is worth sharing with the whole world.

Interest in better care for animals and a little knowledge in tackling an adverse situation like rabies goes a long way in treating the disease. Preparedness, combined with healthcare officials’ help, is also essential to end the disease occurrence by the year 2030.