Bongo recorded five of the Upper East Region's 36 rabies deaths between June 2025 and September 2026 while receiving just 120 dog vaccine doses.

Published 7 Nov 2026, 19:56 GMT

2 min read

A veterinary officer in Bongo speaking about rising rabies cases — A veterinary officer in Bongo, Upper East Region

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Bongo District Veterinary Officer Hamidu Sadat has appealed for District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) financing to conduct free mass dog vaccinations after five residents died of rabies in the district.

Sadat told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Bongo on Saturday that those five fatalities gave the district the highest toll among the 36 human rabies deaths recorded across the Upper East Region between June 2025 and September 2026.

He said the Veterinary Services Department received only 120 doses of canine anti-rabies vaccine for its most recent campaign in Bongo, where households keep an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 dogs, mostly for hunting.

Sadat linked the outbreak partly to unmonitored cross-border trade from the Yelwongo market in neighbouring Burkina Faso, where dogs are brought through unapproved routes into Bolgatanga and Bongo Soe without proof of immunisation against a virus that is 100 per cent fatal once clinical symptoms appear.

"When they bring the dogs from the Yelwongo market in Burkina Faso, they sell them in Bolgatanga and if they don't sell all, they bring the remaining ones to Bongo Soe. There is a big dog market there," he said, adding that some escape in transit and become strays.

At the same time, a government-backed programme that previously supplied free human anti-rabies vaccines to dog-bite victims by medical drone has been suspended due to stock shortages, leaving patients to pay about GH¢1,000 out of pocket.

"They don't report the dog bite because they will be told to take the vaccine, which is very expensive; it's about GHS1,000.00," Sadat said. "So immediately you tell them to buy the vaccine, then they start running away."

Under World Health Organization (WHO) guidance on rabies prevention and Ghana Health Service advice, anyone bitten or scratched by a dog or other mammal should immediately wash the wound thoroughly with soap and running water for at least 15 minutes and go straight to a health facility for post-exposure prophylaxis.

Araba IncoomAraba Incoom writes on multiple topics with a vast knowledge across different sector. You can almost call me an AI, after all, my initials are Araba Incoom.

Rabies deaths rise in Bongo as veterinary officer appeals for vaccine funding

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