Immunizing Vulnerable Populations Like Rag Pickers, Garbage Collectors, Municipality Workers and Newspaper Hawkers against Rabies in Shimla Municipality, HP, India
Read full paper at: http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=53354#.VMBecyzQrzE Author(s) Omesh Kumar Bharti Affiliation(s) Corporation Health Officer, Municipal Corporation, Shimla, India . ABSTRACT Background: Rabies is a zoonotic disease and many vulnerable sections like rag pickers and municipality workers neglect animal bites due to ignorance of their potential deadly outcomes. Stray dogs abound in garbage pits and this population is exposed to their attacks. It should be a mandate for municipalities to help protect their sanitary workforce, especially rag pickers, from deadly infectious diseases such as Rabies, Hepatitis-B, HIV, Tetanus etc. Objectives: Objective of this study was to study methods to provide pre-exposure Rabies vaccination for such highly exposed populations by engaging them and understanding their perception of this disease through a constant dialogue with them. Methods: We started b...