On the World Rabies Day, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture organized Rabies Awareness Workshop in cooperation with specialists in Ministries of health and municipal and rural affairs, the Saudi Center for Disease Prevention and Control (Saudi CDC) and animal welfare workers. The workshop aims to raise awareness about rabies, how to tackle such disease under the One Health approach.
The workshop discussed the causes and types of the disease, the complex relationship between humans and animals, and the efforts of government sectors and international organizations to combat it, preparing for the declaration of the elimination of dog-mediated rabies by 2030. The workshop also includes a panel discussion with parties' representatives attended.
At the end of the workshop, several recommendations were made, including creating a national database for pet breeders, numbering and vaccinating those pets against rabies, conducting national surveys of the disease in all animal breeds to determine the rates of infection. Besides, stressing the importance of developing a national plan to combat this disease to be formulated by human and animal health agencies under Saudi CDC umbrella, providing sustainable, animal-friendly solutions when dealing with stray dogs in cities and villages, and providing high-quality rabies vaccines for vets, dogs owners and those working in the control stray animals campaigns, and studying the requirement that vaccinating vets and vets assistants against rabies has to be set mandatory for obtaining a practicing veterinary profession license issued by the ministry.