Who are we helping?
Most rabies victims are already amongst the world's poorest people
95% of rabies deaths occur in Africa and Asia, mostly in rural areas. When somebody gets scratched or bitten by one of the many dogs (or other animals) that roam freely they have to
- raise the money for treatment. Even if they can pay for post-exposure treatment, it means a huge financial sacrifice.
- travel many miles to get treatment. If you don’t know anyone who owns a car and the nearest medical centre is a 6 hour drive, just getting there is a challenge.
And it’s a race against time. Once somebody has been exposed to rabies, they need to receive treatment as soon as possible.
Time and money
Mwamba is a 30 year-old married man from Kemange village, in the Mara region of Tanzania. He is a farmer with a family of 5 and a monthly household expenditure of $32.40.
Whilst working on his homestead, an unknown, suspected rabid dog bit his leg. The next day he went to the district hospital for post exposure prophylaxis treatment, but didn't receive it because he did not have the $23 the hospital staff demanded he pay for the first injection.
Mwamba went back home to try and borrow money. After 3 days, he had enough money and went back to the district hospital for treatment. This time the vaccine was out of stock. Friends advised him to travel to Kenya, a neighbouring country, for treatment.
He went back home and borrowed more money to pay for the travel costs. He managed to get enough and travelled to Kenya where he got his first injection (10 days after the bite) at a cost of $13.8 per dose. To avoid going back to Kenya he also bought a thermos flask at a cost of $3.70 and 2 more doses of the vaccine, which he stored in the thermos flask with some ice he got from a pharmacy where he bought the vaccine.
For weeks, Mwamba and his family had to live with the uncertainty of whether he had received the treatment in time. Would he die? And if he died, how would they repay the borrowed money?
Fortunately, he survived, but had spent (in total) more than double his family's monthly income to get treatment, a financial burden that caused more hardship to a family already living in poverty.
Mwamba was lucky but we can't always win the rabies race. Right now people who have been exposed to rabies are struggling to find the money and get the treatment they need to save their lives. Many will die a needless death from a preventable disease.
The way to beat rabies is to prevent people being infected in the first place. When we stop rabies in animals, we protect animals and people.
