Mars commits US$3M to Thailand rabies elimination

THAILAND – Mars has committed US$3 million through its Mars Impact Fund to support Worldwide Veterinary Service (WVS) in strengthening final-mile rabies elimination efforts in Thailand over three years.

The programme will support Thailand’s government-led rabies elimination efforts by targeting free-roaming and hard-to-reach dog populations that vaccination campaigns can struggle to reach.

WVS will provide specialist veterinary expertise and field support, strengthen integrated rabies surveillance to enable earlier outbreak detection and build the capacity of veterinary and public health teams. 

The WVS International Training Centre in Chiang Mai will also deliver training.

The initiative builds on work by Thailand’s Department of Livestock Development and its provincial offices, adding technical expertise, training and field capacity to existing efforts.

“Our teams know exactly what the final mile looks like. It is hot, slow, unglamorous work, going street by street and village by village to find the dogs everyone else misses, and it is where elimination is won or lost,” said Dr Luke Gamble, founder and chief executive of WVS.

He said the funding would support expanded surveillance and veterinary training, including through the organisation’s training centre in Chiang Mai.

The grant supports the Mars Impact Fund’s focus on companion animal wellbeing, including disease prevention and veterinary capacity building.

“At Mars, improving the lives of pets around the world is a priority for us,” said Michelle Grogg, executive director of the Mars Impact Fund. 

“Our partnership with Worldwide Veterinary Service and its Mission Rabies program directly advances the Mars Impact Fund’s pillar of improving companion animal wellbeing through a prevention-first approach.”

Dr Susan Wan, veterinary expert and cluster director for Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand at Mars Petcare SEA, said rabies prevention could also strengthen community health.

“Rabies is entirely preventable, yet it continues to pose a threat to both companion animals and families across the region,” she said.

WVS launched Mission Rabies in 2013 to support eliminating canine-mediated human rabies deaths. 

The organisation said the programme has vaccinated more than eight million dogs and reached more than 15 million children with rabies education worldwide.

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