The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) was felicitated by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday for adopting best practices in its mass dog vaccination (MDV) programme under the rabies free city initiative.
Recognition at National Workshop
The recognition was announced during a regional workshop on the State Action Plan for Dog Mediated Rabies Elimination (SAPRE), held in New Delhi. The workshop was organised to support states in drafting and preparing action plans for SAPRE implementation in the coming days. Participants included representatives from the Ministry of Health, the Department of Animal Husbandry, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, and experts from medical, veterinary, and public health sectors. Officials from urban local bodies and municipal corporations across multiple states also attended.
In-Situ Vaccination: A Best Practice
“We have been carrying out mass vaccination since March 30. We are catching dogs along with expert vets and doing in-situ vaccination, which was dubbed as one of the best practices. We gave a presentation on our vaccination practice,” said Prasanta Sika, BMC nodal officer for MDV. The in-situ vaccination method involves vaccinating dogs at the location where they are found, reducing stress on the animals and improving efficiency.
The BMC's approach has been lauded for its effectiveness in covering a large number of stray dogs in a short period. The programme aims to eliminate rabies from the city by achieving high vaccination coverage, which is crucial for breaking the transmission cycle of the disease.
The workshop also focused on inter-sectoral coordination and sharing of best practices among states. The recognition for BMC is expected to encourage other urban local bodies to adopt similar innovative methods for dog vaccination and rabies control.
