TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In the small town of Ruteng in Manggarai regency, Flores, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), there is an imposing cathedral, with its European architecture. It is the biggest place of worship among in the area.
Every Sunday morning, people of Ruteng go to that cathedral for mass. Father Lian Angkur, the priest at the cathedral, delivers a sermon and often, he includes a message on health and hygiene to ensure that his congregation is aware of the danger of rabies.
"Rabies a problem in Flores because there are so many dogs here and they live close to their owners," said 29-year-old Father Lian.
In addition to the messages during Sunday services, Lian says the cathedral provides leaflets or information posted on the board about rabies and health in general. He believes that communication through the church is the most effective way to convey such communal messages.
"There are more than 13,000 members of the congregation in this town and most of them regularly attend church services," he told Tempo English over a telephone conversation, two weeks ago.
Father Lian also reminds churchgoers on dates of vaccination so that they can make sure their dogs will be home during vaccination day. Dogs in Flores are usually untied or kept inside the house, so they roam freely in the neighborhood.
Father Lian, along with the churches in Flores, are cooperating with the FAO and the local government to control rabies in all of NTT. Last year, he received training on how to communicate and inform the about rabies and other zoonotic diseases, which can spread from animals to humans.
Father Lian said that they could do more to increase awareness of the disease, especially in the smaller villages. "I got a report about one man who died a month ago because of rabies at Timung village, not far from here. They were going to give him medicine, but he refused saying it was not dangerous," he explained. In fact, their biggest challenge in controlling the disease is that kind of mindset. He promised that the church will disseminate more information on health and hygience and ask the congregation to help out. "We encourage them to keep their environment and their pets clean, and most importantly, to vaccinate their dogs," he added. (*)
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