MANILA, Philippines — The Duterte administration has allocated funding of P500 million next year for the National Rabies Prevention and Control Program of the Department of Health (DOH). “The additional budget for the program is meant to enable the country to eradicate rabies,” Anak Kalusugan party-list Rep. Mike Defensor said yesterday. The World Health Organization (WHO) observed World Rabies Day on Sept. 28, coinciding with the death anniversary of Louis Pasteur, the French chemist and microbiologist who developed the first rabies vaccine. The DOH aims to eliminate human deaths from rabies infections by next year, and to declare the Philippines rabies-free by 2022. Rabies virus is caused by animal bites, particularly dogs.

Source: Philippine Star September 29, 2019 15:37 UTC