Global initiative aims to end human rabies deaths
Reject Philip Morris smoking foundation: WHO
ROME, Oct 1, (RTRS): Human deaths from rabies can be ended by 2030 through the mass immunisation of dogs, along with better healthcare and education, the United Nations has said at the launch of the world’s largest anti-rabies initiative.
Rabies kills about 59,000 people a year, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), mainly in Asian and African countries with large populations of stray dogs.
“There is no reason for anyone to die of rabies in today’s world, and rabies endemic countries have made its elimination a priority,” Louis Nel, chief executive of the Global Alliance for Rabies Control, a US-based charity, said in a statement.
“With strong and sustained commitment from the human and animal health sectors, we can and will end this deadly disease.”
Rabies is mainly caused by bites from dogs contaminated with the virus and occurs in more than 150 countries, FAO said.
It is easily prevented with a vaccine, but many people do not realise they have been infected and once symptoms begin to show, it is usually fatal.
It is a neglected disease that largely affects the poor and rural communities, with about $500 million of livestock dying from rabies each year, FAO said.
Also:
GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) advised governments to reject a plan by tobacco firm Philip Morris International to set up a Foundation for a Smoke-Free World.
“The tobacco industry and its front groups have misled the public about the risks associated with other tobacco products,” the UN health agency said in a statement.
“Such misleading conduct continues today with companies, including PMI, marketing tobacco products in ways that misleadingly suggest that some tobacco products are less harmful than others,” it said.
“WHO will not partner with the Foundation. Governments should not partner with the Foundation and the public health community should follow this lead.”