WORLDWIDE CONTACT US ABOUT US PRODUCTS RESEARCH LICENSING NEWSROOM CAREERS INVESTORS Home CLOSING THE CIRCLE ON RABIES About Us Corporate Responsibility Reimbursement Support and Patient Assistance Programs Leadership Board of Directors Executive Committee Our Work How We Operate Code of Conduct Compliance Privacy Transparency and Privacy Internet Privacy Policy Cookie Privacy Commitment Cross Border Policy Employment Privacy & Data Protection Diversity Employee Diversity Supplier Diversity Views and Positions Access and Affordability Access to Investigational Medicines Innovation Quality and Safety Sales and Marketing Responsible Public Policy and Advocacy Our History Our People Featured Stories For more than a decade, Merck has contributed to the fight against rabies. Worldwide, 55,000 people die from rabies every year -- approximately one person every ten minutes. Children are often at greatest at risk from this zoonotic disease. Rabies affects domestic and wild animals. Dogs are the source of the vast majority of human rabies deaths. While not much of a threat in industrialized countries because of widespread and effective programs to prevent dog to human transmission, rabies remains a common and dangerous threat in many parts of the world. Africa and India together bear the burden of 80 percent of total annual rabies deaths. The Afya Serengeti Project For nearly a decade Merck Animal Health has partnered with the Afya Serengeti project (Afya means "health" in Swahili) in the Serengeti region of Tanzania in eastern Africa. Each year, we help provide access to preventive care, including rabies vaccinations for domestic dogs. In 2015, 200,000 doses of rabies vaccine were provided. We also provide tools such as all-terrain vehicles and tents to help make sure the project is able to reach the most remote corners of the region. Rabies in humans and domestic animals has now been virtually eliminated from this area and human hospitalizations due to rabid dog bites have decreased 92 percent. India The success of the Afya Serengeti project inspired Merck Animal Health to extend our support to the Mission Rabies project in India. Mission Rabies focuses on hotspots within India – educating schools and communities on the importance of rabies awareness and vaccination. Mission Rabies is still in its early stages and Merck Animal Health believes our support is vital to its success in providing vaccines and supporting the collection of dog population and disease data. SHARE: DID YOU KNOW... Rabies is... a 100 percent preventable disease. caused by a virus that attacks the nervous system and is transmitted between species through a bite or scratch from an infected person or animal. present on all continents with the exception of Antartica, but more than 95 percent of human deaths occur in Asia and Africa. And, that... exposure to rabid dogs is still the cause of more than 90 percent of human exposures to rabies and of more than 99 percent of human deaths worldwide. Copyright © 2009-2016 Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc. All rights reserved. Forward-Looking Statement Privacy Terms of Use Site Map