LRVC’s ultimate goal is to eradicate rabies disease from Laikipia County. The Laikipia Rabies Vaccination Campaign (LRVC) has completed its 2020 campaign to immunize domestic dogs and cats around Laikipia against rabies. This year, the LRVC team has exceeded the target of vaccinating 20,000 dogs and cats by vaccinating 21,493 domestic dogs and cats in Laikipia County.

The campaign began on December 3rd 2020 and officially launched by the Deputy Governor, Laikipia County H.E John Mwaniki.  There was a break on 19th Dec 2020 for the December holidays with a total of 8,003 dogs and cats had been vaccinated. The teams resumed in January and concluded the whole exercise in February 27th achieving a total number of 21,493 vaccinated dogs and cats.

The campaign is based at Mpala Research Centre, where vets from Laikipia County Government and community volunteers come together to support the campaign using science to benefit humans, domestic animals, and wildlife alike.  The success of this campaign has generously been supported by IUCN Save Our Species, co-funded by the European Union, Veterinarians International (VI), The Laikipia County Government, and Mpala Research Centre.

Planning for the LRVC 2020 campaign presented new challenges especially how to work with and in communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the campaign meticulous planning, we ensured that all the COVID-19 protocols were observed.

Communities reached:

Koija, Il Motiok, Kijabe, Musul, Tiememut, Nkiroriti, Doldol, Il Polei and surrounding areas
Dol dol, Kuri kuri, Makurian, Ol arjiju and Olkinyei
Maramoja, Naibor, Makandura, Lekiji, Endana, Juakali, Ireri 22, Ngarengiro, and surrounding areas
Mugumo, Mwireri, Umande, Chumvi, Borana and surrounding areas
Withare, Ngobit, Mwakinya, Tharua, Riacho, Matanya, Baraka and surrounding areas
Rumuruti, Kinamba, Maundu Meri, and surrounding areas
Nanyuki Likii, Nturukuma and environs
Mugie, Survey, Mowarak, Lorora and environs

Related

Working to Eradicate Rabies in Laikipia County, Kenya
Since 2015, the Samburu-Laikipia Wild Dog Project, based at Mpala Research Centre, has been leading the annual Laikipia Rabies Vaccination Campaign (LRVC) of dogs and cats in Laikipia County, making an average of 15,000 rabies vaccinations available each year. This initiative has grown over the years leading to various partnerships…

LRVC Paper Publication
We are excited to share the news on the first major paper from the Laikipia Rabies Vaccination Campaign (LRVC) published in the prestigious open access journal PLoS (Public Library of Science) Neglected Tropical Diseases. Over the past 5 years, Mpala has worked closely with a wide range of partners from neighbours, communities,…

Meet Dr. James Ngatia, Veterinarian for the Samburu-Laikipia Wild Dog Project
Tell us about your background. I studied veterinary medicine at the University of Nairobi and am a resident of Laikipia county. I grew up watching wildlife and this formed part of my inspiration for working with wildlife or wildlife research, and community development thus influencing my choice of career in…