The President, Commonwealth Veterinary Association, Dr Olatunji Nasir, has called on the policymakers to work towards ending rabies by 2030.

Nasir said this in a statement on Monday to commemorate 2020 World Rabies Day.

He said the celebration of the day began 14 years ago to bring together everyone who had been involved in the objective of the control and eradication of the vaccine-preventable scourge.

Nasir stated, “It is indeed shameful that humanity is still talking about rabies in the year 2020 when it is obvious that rabies kills faster than AIDS.

“Yearly, it has provided opportunities to once again remind us of the responsibilities to our various communities in the area of collaboration to eliminate rabies.”

The CVA President said this year’s theme, ‘End Rabies: Collaborate, Vaccinate’, further re-emphasised the need for the different players in the community to collaborate and vaccinate to end rabies.

He added, “The Office International des Epizooties proposition to end rabies by 2030 is achievable if we all subscribe to diligently pursue the goal and I urge everyone concerned to walk and work towards this lofty goal in order to save humanity from the preventable disease.

“We are able to support researchers from the Commonwealth countries and beyond that are ready to contribute their didactic inputs into measures that will aid the eradication of the disease.”