Ghana's Most Beautiful 1st Runner Up 2022, Queen Aiko Adade, led a massive rabies education campaign and vaccination exercise in Akpafu Odomi in the Oti Region of Ghana over the weekend in observance of World Health Day 2023 and in the spirit of One Health.

The exercise, which came exactly a week after she carried out a similar exercise in the Jasikan Municipality, was aimed at advancing public awareness about the dangers of rabies and promoting responsible pet ownership in the community, leveraging the community’s Easter homecoming mass gathering as a channel for effective engagement and education.

Rabies is a viral disease that affects both animals and humans, with 99% of infections transmitted through the saliva of infected dogs. Once symptoms appear, the disease is almost always fatal, and victims die! 80% of these deaths are reported in rural areas, and 40% of cases are reported in children under the age of 15.

Objective 1 of the Theory of Change seeks to effectively use vaccines, medicines, tools, and technologies to reduce the risk of human rabies through expanded dog vaccinations, improved awareness and education, and increased access to health care, medicines, and vaccines for populations at risk, hence the Queen’s passion to reach out to the most vulnerable in her region and the nation at large.

Queen Aiko Adade, who is also a level 400 Veterinary Medicine student, organized the campaign with support from local veterinary and health workers, volunteers, and animal welfare organizations.

The event provided thorough and extensive rabies education on the risks associated with unvaccinated dogs and the importance of responsible pet ownership for some 3,220 seated audiences, constituting 1,531 children, 738 men, and 951 women.

She was offered the platform to run her campaign after Nana Tetteh Attu IV, Chief of Akpafu Odomi and Adontehene of the Akpafu Traditional Area, delivered an Easter reconciliatory address to the community.

Right after the public education, the campaign transitioned into a vaccination phase at the Akpafu Jubilee Park and recorded a huge success, with 73 dogs and 9 cats vaccinated against rabies, covering over 70% of the Akpafu Odomi community’s dog population.

According to the World Health Organization, if at least 70% of the dog population globally was vaccinated against rabies, we would be able to achieve agenda #zeroby30; the global strategic plan to end human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030.

The Akpafu Odomi community members showed great interest in the campaign, pledging to vaccinate their pets regularly and support animal welfare initiatives in the area.

Speaking to Edem Emmanuel Agbodiagbo on Sekpele 104.3 FM after the event, Queen Aiko Adade, who had been crowned as Bonyi Katɔise Ɔkpãrogo Iwola I (Development Ambassador and Queen of Wisdom), reiterated her passion to save lives through Project Eleutheros, the Aiko Adade Foundation’s initiative in the fight against rabies, stating that, "even before Ghana’s Most Beautiful pageantry, I became very concerned about rabies after witnessing the death of a young girl in my neighborhood" she says.

When asked about her primary targets, she mentioned that she aims to expand her initiative across Ghana, starting in rural areas where people are most susceptible and engraving the awareness message in children. I am most passionate about children because in a case that I witnessed, the child got bitten by a rabid animal and did not inform her parents; we only got to know when she started exhibiting the excruciating symptoms and later died".

She rounded it all up by expressing her gratitude to the veterinarians and animal welfare organizations that are supporting her campaigns. She also utilized the opportunity to call on sponsorships and partnerships:

"I can do this every weekend with my team in different locations if we obtain the necessary funding and sponsorships; take, for instance, the transportation cost of my team and logistics from Accra to these rural areas alone. If we also had dedicated liaisons between the team and pet owners in these various locations, it will make our 70 percent target more achievable."