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| Pilar II Central School is the pilot of the Rabies Corner Project. |
SORSOGON CITY, March 10, 2015 (PIA) - Dogs are said to be man’s best friend, but dogs are still animals... they can bite, and their bites are dangerous.
The most dangerous of which is a bite of a rabid dog.
To better educate and raise greater awareness on the danger of dog bites, animal rabies and on responsible pet ownership especially among school children, the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) in cooperation with the Department of Education (DepEd), the Provincial Government of Sorsogon through the Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO), and the Local Government Unit of Pilar conducted the pilot launch of the Rabies Corner Project in Pilar II Central Elementary School in Putiao, Pilar Sorsogon on March 6, 2015.
According to Dr. Joseph Garay, DepEd Sorsogon School District Medical Officer, many children are naturally drawn to dogs, and most often, children are victims of dog bites. “The Rabies Corner will teach the school children including school personnel about ways to protect themselves and their pets against rabies,” he said.
The Rabies Corner is a strategic spot within the school campus that displays informative materials such as first aid manuals, reading materials on responsible pet ownership, treatment of animal bite carrying rabies and other related materials.
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| DepEd Sorsogon physician Dr. Joseph Garay. |
During the launching, five principals in Pilar together with their faculty and students were invited to have a look of the Rabies Corner and catch inputs on how they can put up the same and disseminate the advantage of having such in their respective schools.
School heads were also given kits that they can use in establishing the same corner in their respective schools. “The Rabies Corner will teach them health behaviors that will affect these children throughout their lifetime,” Dr. Garay also said.
World Health Organization’s statistics reveal that 40% of people who are bitten by suspect rabid animals are children less than 15 years of age. At an early age, children must be exposed to the threat of rabies both in animals and human.
Rabies is a transmissible disease with 100 percent case fatality rate in animals and humans. Dogs are the source of vast majority human rabies deaths. It kills hundreds of Filipinos every year, according to 2014 statistics of the Department of Health. (BARecebido, PIA-5/Sorsogon/photos: EEbuenga, PVO)
