MSD Animal Health pledges to support rabies eradication initiatives

MSD Animal Health has announced its continued support of the Afya Project and Mission Rabies, two organisations dedicated to wiping out rabies worldwide.

The work will target the complete elimination of the disease in some of the world's most at-risk regions. in order to help prevent the estimated 59,000 human deaths caused by rabies annually.

For more than 15 years, the firm has supported the Afya Project by donating canine rabies vaccines for use in the Serengeti region of Tanzania, and by providing the programme with essential tools and resources. 

It extended that support to Mission Rabies in India in 2013 and has donated more than one million doses of its Nobivac rabies vaccine to the programmes.

Dr David Sutton, technical director at MSD Animal Health, said: "Because rabies is a preventable disease, MSD Animal Health strongly believes that it can and should be eliminated in every country."

This follows the launch of the 2015 iteration of the company's Nobivac Global Vet Exchange Programme last month.