Teams go from house to house, sometimes by foot across rough terrain, collecting information on the number of dogs within the village, their vaccination status and date, and overall health.
Teams provide face-to-face advice and information on animal care, rabies and it’s prevention, rabies first aid, and the benefits of the One Health approach, raising the overall awareness and understanding of how animal health is tied into human health.
Program Dharma villages organise their own Animal Health Days through BAWA as per the needs of the community, to provide sterilisation and routine rabies vaccination, and address any animal health issues or concerns.
Indonesia’s First Regulation Against Dog Meat
In 2018, Program Dharma was instrumental in establishing Indonesia’s first ever village regulation in Sanur Kaja, explicitly banning the dog meat trade and all related acts of cruelty to dogs. Since then, a further two village regulations and one cultural village regulation have been introduced in Program Dharma villages.