Agri Ministry,FAO Hold Training on Vaccination to Control Rabies

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Directorate General of Animal Husbandry and Animal Health of the Ministry of Agriculture together with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO) held a vaccination training for field officers to control rabies in Dompu, Bima and Sumbawa Districts.

Ministry of Agriculture and FAO through a special unit in the field of animal disease (FAO ECTAD) also simultaneously socializes the handling of integrated bite case management. There is also a current epidemic of rabies in Dompu District, West Nusa Tenggara.

"We provide this training in order to improve the knowledge and skills of officers related to prevention and control of rabies in the Dompu, Sumbawa and Bima regions," said Head of the Denpasar Veterinary Center, Ministry of Agriculture, I Wayan Masa Tenaya in Rabies Prevention and Control Socialization activities through information written on Friday.

As is known, the area of Dompu District reaches 2,321.55 km2, which consists of 8 sub-districts and 81 villages or kelurahan with a population of 218,000. Dompu is adjacent to Sumbawa and Saleh Bay in the west and Bima District in the north and east.

I Wayan Masa Tenaya conveyed, his side continued to work together with a number of parties, especially from the side of animal health and human health and the local government to jointly eradicate and control rabies.

This activity is expected to increase public awareness, the community of dog owners, cultivators and hunters who have dogs to get information about rabies.

Head of the Dompu District Animal Husbandry and Animal Health Service, Zainal Arifin, said that throughout the years 2018 to February 2019 there have been 544 bites of rabies transmitting animals with a mortality rate of 5 people.

According to Zainal, the factor affecting the spread of rabies in Dompu District is the tradition of people who carry out shifting cultivation by carrying guard dogs.

"In addition to vaccination and targeted elimination for wild animals, we also strive to prevent rabies transmitting animals from going out from the Dompu area to other regions," Zaenal said.

Until now, according to him, in all sub-districts in Dompu district, rabies transmitting animals have been reported.

The same thing was also conveyed by the Head of the Dompu District Health Office Iris Juita Kastianti. He regretted the behavior of the people who did not immediately report when they got a dog bite, even after receiving treatment, many patients did not return to the puskesmas (public health center) for further vaccine.

"If you don`t return, the impact will be very dangerous, because patients can die within 2 weeks to 2 years and this understanding is still lacking in our society," Iris said.

ANTARA