A Ghanaian-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), Communication Initiatives for Change (CIC), has won an international award for its work in the area of rabies education and prevention.

The Global Alliance on Rabies Control (GARC), an international NGO working to eliminate deaths from rabies by 2030, featured the CIC as its GARC Data Platform user for May 2025.

The GARC Data Platform is a comprehensive platform created by the GARC to assist users in collecting, analysing, and visualising rabies data. It is designed to support rabies control efforts by providing a suite of tools to collect, manage, and analyse data related to the disease.

Other organisations that have won this award over time include the Neighbourhood Woof in India, the BIG FIX of Uganda and the Mara North Conservancy Rabies Project (MNC Rabies Project), which is a recognised Rabies Centre of Excellence in Kenya. These organisations have been recognised for their use of the GARC Data Platform to strengthen rabies control efforts. 

CIC

The CIC, funded by Boehringer Ingelheim (BI), France, implemented a rabies prevention education for basic schools’ project in the Bono and Greater Accra regions in 2023 and 2024 with support from the Veterinary Services Directorate (VSD), School Health Education Programme (SHEP) of the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Health Promotional Division (HPD) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS).

The CIC has so far received commendations from the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, the GES/SHEP, VSD, France, among others, for the award.

In announcing the award on its website, the GARC said, “This May, GARC is focusing on community outreach and how working as a global community towards rabies elimination is the only way to make a long-term impact.

This month’s GARC Data Platform featured Communication Initiatives for Change (CIC) in Ghana. As an organisation focused on rabies education, they firmly believe in the principle of community collaboration and work in partnership with reputable global organisations and experts in the field of health and development communication, community engagement and advocacy.”

It said using the GARC Data Platform, CIC had made a difference since 2023 by visiting 875 schools where they educated 169,094 schoolchildren on how to prevent dog bites and distributed 4,664 resources to the school children.

As part of their activities, they also reached an estimated 467,790 people with life-saving information on rabies.

Also, other people who benefited from these educational activities included parents, teachers, GES officials, and other members of the school community.

In an interview on the award with the Daily Graphic, Emmanuel Fiagbey, Executive Director, CIC, said the organisation collaborated with the leaders of public and private sector organisations, civil society organisations, and communities to address communication needs relating to development and public health emergencies to improve health, well-being, livelihoods, and the environment.

He said they conducted basic rabies prevention education for schoolchildren in selected regions where dog bites and rabies cases were rampant by using tailored rabies prevention messages to increase awareness and knowledge of appropriate actions to take to reduce exposure to rabies.