Vet Office Bats for ‘Rabies-Free’ Cebu City in 2020

The city government is out to reach “rabies-free” status by accomplishing 100 percent vaccination rate of the estimated 167,000 dogs here by 2020.

Dr. Alice Utlang, head of the city’s Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries (DVMF), said on Friday that her department’s deviation from the target of World Health Organization to make the country rabies-free by 2030, is a strategy to combat rabies in all 80 barangays of this city.

“We will become complacent if we will focus on the 2030 target,” she said in Cebuano during a radio interview.

She said the city has declared 33 barangays rabies-free as the Cebu City Health Office has not recorded a single case of rabies since 2007.

She identified Adlawon, Agsungot, Cambinucot, Lusaran, Paril, Taptap, Mabini, San Jose, Sirao, Sinsin, Tagbao, Pung-ol-Sibugay, Sudlon 1, Sudlon 2, Buot-Taup, and Pamutan as rabies-free barangays in the hinterland.

She added Hipodromo, Banilad, Day-as, Kalibuhi-an and Kamagayan (downtown district), Kasambagan, Lorega, San Roque, Santa Cruz, Sto. Niño, Labangon, Suba, Pasil, T. Padilla, Calamba, and San Nicolas Proper as rabies-free lowland barangays.

She said the DVMF will recognize these barangays’ contribution to the campaign of the city government against rabies.

According to her, only 11 barangays belong to the high-risk area. The rest of the barangays are considered medium risk due to listed cases of rabies in the neighboring areas.

“We still have 30,000 doses of rabies vaccine enough to cover the priority high risk areas, which barangays have cases of rabies every year,” she said.

Of the 11 villages recorded as high-risk, Utlang said that Inayawan has one case of “human rabies” recorded by the health authorities.

The City Health Office recorded top 20 barangays in the city with dog bite cases, but she did not give the figures.

Latest survey conducted by her office, in coordination with the Women Society International, showed the city has some 167,000 dogs. (PNA)