Students of the third-year MBBS and BBMS program of the College of Medicine at Gulf Medical University organized a community awareness-creating event on World Rabies Day. To raise awareness about the world’s deadliest infectious disease and bring together partners to enhance prevention and control efforts worldwide, 28th September has been observed globally as ‘world rabies day’ since its inception in 2007. This year’s theme, ‘Rabies: One Health, Zero Deaths,’ highlights the environment’s connection with people and animals.
“The event highlighted the significance of the preventive measures and appropriate post-exposure prophylaxis against Rabies” under the guidance of the Microbiology faculty from the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Dr. Janita Pinto, Assistant Professor, and Ms. Aswathy Nandakumar, Lecturer. “We are happy that we had the opportunity to raise awareness on an important infectious disease like Rabies and its prevention. Although 100% preventable, nearly 60,000 people die from the disease worldwide each year,” said Ms. Umama Bushra, III MBBS student. Ms. Malkaan Nusrati, a third-year BBMS student, said, “It was an insightful event that enhanced our knowledge about Rabies and enabled us to spread this important information to our peers and the community.”
Students across the BBMS, HDPCS, and MBBS programs, from the College of Medicine, participated enthusiastically in this event. They benefitted from the informative posters, videos, and games about the facts related to Rabies, the role of mammals or animals spreading the infection, and the preventive aspects, all targeting zero deaths.
“We are happy to raise awareness in our immediate community on an important infectious disease like Rabies and its prevention, as although 100% preventable, nearly 60,000 people die from the disease around the world each year.” said Ms. Umama Bushra, III year MBBS student on the occasion of ‘World Rabies Day’ event organized by the students of medical and biomedical science programs held on October 3, 2022 at Gulf Medical University.
World Rabies Day is observed globally on 28th September. It is a global health observance started in 2007 to raise awareness about the world’s deadliest infectious disease and bring together partners to enhance prevention and control efforts worldwide. This year’s theme ‘Rabies: One Health, Zero Deaths’ by the WHO highlights the connection of the environment with both people and animals.
Dr. Jayakumary, Assistant Professor from Department of Community Medicine who is also the Chairperson of Community Engagement Committee of College of Medicine initiated this community awareness event. The Microbiology faculty from the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Dr. Janita Pinto, Assistant Professor and Ms. Aswathy Nandakumar, Lecturer supervised the student activities. Emphasizing the importance of creating awareness about infectious diseases such as Rabies among students, Dr. Janita Pinto said “The event highlighted the significance of the appropriate post-exposure prophylaxis against Rabies”.
Students from across the Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences (BBMS), Higher Diploma in Preclinical Sciences (HDPCS) and the MBBS programs of College of Medicine participated in this event enthusiastically. Ms. Malkaan Nusrati, third year BBMS student said, “It was an insightful event which enhanced our knowledge about Rabies and enabled us to spread this information to our peers and the community.”
Students prepared informative posters with evidence-based facts about Rabies and presented it to the students, faculty and the immdediate GMU community. Additionally, they also organized informative games about the role of mammals or animals spreading the infection.
Congratulating the students, Dean Prof. Manda Venkatramana said, “Community Engagement and Social Accountability forms one of our core values which has to be inculcated early among health professions students. Events like this aims to achieve this very objective!”
