PERU

In the Northern region on the Peruvian Amazon jungle, exposures to vampire rabies transmitted by the hematophagous bat, Desmodus rotundus, are one of the most frequent public health problems affecting the native population. From 1975 to 2004 at least 20 vampire rabies outbreaks in humans have occurred among this population, killing around 110 people. This project will promote participation from the native communities versus the traditional approach where health service officers prescribe the "best approach" for the native populations which results in limited acceptance and low behavioral change. Two native communities will be selected to apply these distinct public health education approaches. Both communities will be surveyed previous to the intervention activities to gather descriptive information on the rabies risk of the community by household and to obtain baseline information on exposures before the interventions. In one native community (Control Community) the traditional approach for public health education will be used. In the other community (Experimental Community), participative techniques will be used to allow the school teachers, school children and their parents to intervene during the rabies preparation of the educational materials and in the organization of the training activities.