“Yangon Region had the highest number of dog-bite cases recorded in Myanmar last year. Therefore, we plan to open the treatment centres that prioritise the region as fast as we can," Dr Daw Thet Wai Nwe, assistant director of the Department of Public Health’s Rabies Control and Prevention Programme told The Myanmar Times.

Dr Daw Thet Wai Nwe said the health authorities also expect that the opening of the centres will help to address the availability of rabies vaccine in the region’s hospitals and reduce instances where hospitals run out of the vaccine due to a high number of cases.

The centres will be manned by special personnel assigned by the Ministry of Health and Sports.

All four centres will use the intradermal vaccination method where 0.1 millilitre doses of vaccine are injected just under the skin on days 0, 7 and either 21 or 28 following a bite. The method is in accordance with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.

Myanmar’s health authorities delivered nearly 450,000 vials of rabies vaccines and 30,000 vials of rabies immunoglobulin to hospitals nationwide in the last fiscal year and the Ministry of Health and Sports intends to acquire another 400,000 vials of rabies vaccine this fiscal year. The ministry will be acquiring the vaccine with the help of WHO and other international non-government organisations.

“Our health staffs in the region regularly conducts educational talks about the danger of rabies in townships,” deputy regional health officer Dr Htay Lwin said.

A total of 191,619 people suffered dog bites nationwide last year, with most of the incidents in Yangon Region. The Rabies Control and Prevention Programme's records for last year showed that 70 people died as a result of rabies in Myanmar.