Rabies is a serious viral disease that affects both people and animals. Each year it kills approximately 60,000 people, which is nearly 5 times as many people that died from the recent Ebola outbreak. Infection ultimately results in 100% case fatality rates as there is no cure, and a large majority of affected people are children under the age of 15 from low-income countries in Africa and Asia.

Rabies also has a large impact on animal welfare and wildlife conservation. In addition to the debilitating clinical progression ending in death for domestic dogs, rabies incites fear in people who may react by culling indiscriminately using inhumane methods. Many wild carnivore populations have also suffered greatly with important declines in population numbers due to the spread of rabies such as African wild dogs and Ethiopian wolves .

Despite the large impact rabies has on human, animal and environmental health it is still treated as a neglected tropical disease. The Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) is a leading organization working for the global prevention of rabies that employs a holistic approach including people, education, vaccination programmes, access to treatment and monitoring of results. By supporting GARC you will be contributing towards improving people's health and safety, animal welfare and wildlife conservation. HELP END RABIES :)