The Serengeti region

The villages of the Serengeti.

The Serengeti region is a sprawling and diverse stretch of land located in Tanzania in the eastern part of Africa. At the center of the region is the Serengeti National Park, a controlled-access, protected wildlife conservation area bordered by multiple districts containing many small villages that are the focus of the Afya Serengeti project.

The animal to human transmission of rabies is a real threat. Children in particular are vulnerable to contracting rabies because of their close association with pet dogs. Because the villages of the Serengeti do not have sophisticated medical services or easy access to hospitals, treatment is often lacking and many children die. Prevention through vaccination is therefore the best way to halt the spread of rabies and save lives in these villages.

Transmission of disease from park animals to village animals is also not uncommon since there is no fence around the park, and wild animals can move freely into areas where domestic animals live. Rabies is one such infectious disease that can spread between wild and domestic animals. In 1990, almost the entire population of wild dogs in the Serengeti National Park died in a rabies outbreak that probably originated in the village dog population surrounding the park.