About the Afya Serengeti project.

Afya Serengeti, which means “Health for Serengeti” in Swahili, started as a research project in the Serengeti in 1997. Led by Dr. Sarah Cleaveland, DVM, Afya Serengeti is now a rabies control project that works with local people in the Serengeti to ensure widespread vaccination of domestic dogs.

The project has set up a vaccination zone around the Serengeti National Park with regular clinics where dog owners can bring their pets to be registered, vaccinated, and marked with a plastic collar to signify their protection from rabies.

These village-based clinics are extremely valuable in an area where domestic dogs serve multiple purposes. They act as security guards, protecting livestock from predators. They are used routinely in hunting. And they also serve as family companions. In the Serengeti, domestic dogs account for 84.2% of rabies cases.

The project relies on partners, such as Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health, to help keep vaccination efforts ongoing. Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health has been able to donate more than 900,000 doses of rabies vaccine to the Afya Serengeti project and, due to the overwhelming support of veterinarians around the globe, was also able in 2008 to donate a LandRover. The LandRover allows the project to reach further and help many more villagers.

In just its second year of operation, the number of people requiring hospital care for bites from rabid dogs was reduced by 82%. Because of the remarkable success of vaccination efforts in the Serengeti, plans are underway to expand into other countries. Now the challenge for the Afya Serengeti team is to sustain the vaccination coverage and maintain interest. By controlling rabies in domestic dogs, we can control the disease in people and wildlife.