Ingelheim- December 2024- Having recently signed an agreement to fight rabies in Kenya, particularly Machakos County, Boehringer Ingelheim and Vétérinaires sans Frontières Germany (VSF Germany) continue their successful cooperation. The partnership includes vaccination drives, community awareness initiatives, and educational programs in schools. Boehringer Ingelheim is contributing rabies vaccines and funding while VSF Germany leads the program implementation alongside local stakeholders.
The partnership is part of Boehringer Ingelheim’s Stop Rabies initiative. Stop Rabies supports Zero by 30, the global strategic plan to end human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030.
“The cooperation with Boehringer Ingelheim is an important milestone for our organization,” says Christian Griebenow, CEO of Vétérinaires sans Frontières Germany. “Together, we can make strides towards preventing and controlling rabies in Kenya and raise awareness about this deadly disease. We are grateful for Boehringer Ingelheim’s generous donation and look forward to contributing our many years of experience in implementing animal health programs.”
Dr. Erich Schoett, Head of Pet Therapeutics and Vaccines at Boehringer, adds: “Our partnership with VSF Germany is an essential part of our global Stop Rabies initiative which aims to fight rabies. Through our joint rabies prevention efforts, we can protect the lives of animals while improving the health and safety of the people who live in affected regions. This allows us to make a lasting contribution towards eliminating rabies.”
Stop Rabies: A global initiative
Rabies still kills thousands of people every year. It is endemic in more than 150 countries, and 40% of victims are children living in Asia and Africa. Rabies is 100% preventable with the right vaccination and awareness programs. Stop Rabies aims to reinforce our company’s mission of striving to improve the health of both animals and humans worldwide. We believe that, together with governmental and non-governmental organizations, health authorities, veterinarians, and people who own or care for dogs, we can achieve sustainable impacts by focusing on three pillars: vaccination, education, and surveillance.
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Over the last 20 years, Boehringer has delivered more than 1.5 billion doses of rabies vaccine worldwide. In addition, the company has implemented vaccination programs for dogs in Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, and Vietnam in cooperation with the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) and local partners. The goal of its educational and awareness initiatives is to reach one million children worldwide with information about rabies as well as safe, gentle dog handling practices every year. Initiatives are already underway in the Philippines, Ghana, Kenya, Malaysia, South Africa, Thailand, Vietnam, and Ecuador. Monitoring is an important part of all actions on the ground to ensure that the desired impacts are achieved.
