Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Kalinga's Bantay Rabis earns WHO nod

TABUK, Kalinga, Jan.17 (PIA) – For zero report in rabies case in the past two years, the Bantay Rabis sa Barangay program of Kalinga was recognized by the World Health Organization, according to Dr. Raffy Deray, National Rabies coordinator of the Department of Health.

Acknowledging how effective the program is in the eradication of rabies in Kalinga which used to report an average of three deaths from rabies every year until 2008, Deray asked that Jose Pardito Jr. of the Provincial Epidemic Surveillance Unit (PESU) present his work program in the forthcoming National Rabies Summit to be attended by the WHO representative.

A brain child of Pardito, the project was in 2007 in Calaocan, Rizal where there was a high incidence of rabies.

On his own initiative, Pardito organized the “bantay rabis sa barangay” in Calaocan and solicited the involvement of barangay officials whom he said were very supportive.

Activities under the Bantay Rabis sa Barangay, according to Pardito, include massive registration and vaccination of dogs with the support of the barangay.

Under the project, barangay tanods and health workers go around the households to register all dog pets - their names, sex, age, and color.

Tags are attached to registered dogs bearing serial numbers and dates of vaccination.

Every barangay has its individual dog tag color to determine origin of a dog. Dogs from other barangays that are roaming are easily recognized and are brought back to their proper owners through their tags.

Any dog found without proper tag is considered astray and shall be brought to the barangay center for identification and claim. If no claimant-owner comes, the dog is awarded to interested stewards for proper keeping.

If the dog shows signs of getting rabid, the dog is disposed for the protection of the community.

Pardito said the system is effective in monitoring vaccinated and not vaccinated dogs within the barangay. In cases when there are dog bite victims, it would just be easy to find whether the culprit dog is vaccinated or not, he said.

The other activity involves training of volunteer animal vaccinators.

A year after the implementation of the project, barangay Calaocan reported zero case in both human and canine rabies and won the year’s award in the zero rabies search given by the PHO.

Inspired by the positive result, Pardito made representation to local government units for a joint-project on the training of volunteers. The offer received resounding response from LGUs.

In the trainings, LGUs share in the cost of vaccines with the Departments of Health (DOH) and Agriculture (DA). Volunteer vaccinators needed to be vaccinated because of their contacts with dogs during conducts of vaccination.

One pilot municipality is in Pasil, where every barangay has three volunteers for a total of 30 volunteer animal vaccinators for the municipality trained by personnel from the provincial veterinary office. As a result, Barangay Malucsad in Pasil qualified to the 2010 search for the most compliant barangay to the 2007 Rabies Act.

Three years after its launching, Bantay Rabis sa Barangay continues to spread in other barangays for a zero rabies case in the province.**Larry Lopez/ PIA-Kalinga

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