Our very own Dr Mo wins a Rabies Hero award

Dr Mo awarded MSD Animal Health’s Rabies Hero Award!

We’re thrilled to announce that our very own Dr Mo has been acknowledged as a Rabies Hero by MSD Animal Health. He was given the award for his ground-breaking work to eliminate rabies in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul.

Dr Mo has always been determined to help animals in his country as well as his fellow countrymen. He has dedicated his work to addressing the prevalence of rabies in Kabul as well as humanely supporting the free-roaming dog population. Dr Mo’s goal is to help build a safer and healthier community for both dogs and local residents.

In 2015, Dr Mo carried out the first-ever dog population survey in Afghanistan with a team of volunteer vet students from Kabul University. He convinced the Kabul authorities to stop the culling of dogs by poison, and instead introduce a mass rabies vaccination programme. This also lead to the introduction of a city-wide neutering programme.

It’s thanks to the collaboration with MSD on the rabies vaccines and the generosity of our supporters and funders that this vital work is possible. Since the programme started in 2017, Dr Mo and the Mayhew Afghanistan team have completed 3 cycles of vaccination across 16 districts of Kabul. They’ve also vaccinated more than 82,000 dogs!

There have been many challenges presented by Covid-19 and the change of government in Afghanistan in August 2021. Our programmes were suspended until it was safe to continue and we received the relevant permissions to resume operations. Despite these challenges, there have been no recorded human deaths from rabies in Kabul for the past year. Additionally, and the team has had no suspected cases of rabies in dogs since April 2021, following which they commenced a fourth cycle of mass vaccination.

With the green light from Afghanistan’s new authorities to continue our work, we’re making plans to expand into the newly emerging residential districts of Kabul. Dr Mo and his team’s selfless work continues – a Rabies Hero indeed!

“I am delighted to hear that I received the MSD Rabies Hero Award, it means a lot to me and is a great encouragement to the team in Kabul who work really hard in difficult conditions to vaccinate dogs against rabies to save both human and animal lives.”

- Dr Mo, Mayhew Afghanistan's Country Director

With special thanks to Dogs Trust Worldwide and the Edgard Cooper Foundation for supporting our Mayhew Afghanistan team’s vital work. And thanks to Brigitte Bardot Foundation who support our neutering programme in the city.

Read more about Mayhew Afghanistan's work and achievements.