Vetnews | Desember 2024 20 « BACK TO CONTENTS As the year comes to a close, it’s time to reflect on our achievements and the challenges we’ve navigated. At SAVA-CVC, our mission has always been to support veterinarians who provide primary care to animals in lower-income communities. Striking a balance between maximizing support(cheaper products or charging less in admin fees) and maintaining financial sustainability is a constant challenge. I’m happy to share that CVC activity has significantly increased and SAVA-CVC is financially in a strong position to handle the ups and downs of finances in animal welfare. This year, our Community Veterinary Clinics (CVCs) have been busier than ever before, with 38 clinics current active CVCs (an active CVC has done CVC work in the previous 3 months) . Together, they have achieved incredible milestones: • 21,693 cat and dog sterilizations • 74,025 cat and dog vaccinations • 40,222 endo/ecto parasite treatments • 4,916 disease treatments for cats and dogs • 171 equine vaccinations and treatments • 1,741 ruminant vaccinations and treatments • 1,353 wildlife treated • 333 educational events, reaching 14,868 people Our Animal Charity Shop, managed by the ever-smiling Vhonani Manenzhe, did sales for R833 000 to 66 individual organisations. Additionally, through the Subsidise A Pet Sterilisation Project, 306 pet sterilizations were subsidised by the public, with donors benefiting from 18A tax certificates. We’ve also secured sponsorship of critical equipment and resources for mobile sterilization campaigns, including a dental machine, portable cages and tables, tripod lights, solar-powered fridges, and more—ensuring our CVCs remain equipped to provide care where it’s needed most. Our current services have been running like a well oiled machine which enabled us to roll out an expansion of our rabies vaccination project. Eastern Cape Rabies Vaccination Project A rabies outbreak in Port Elizabeth in late 2021 set the stage for a transformative vaccination initiative. With funding from the Scheinberg COVID-19 Relief Fund, Boehringer-Ingelheim, and a private donor, Optima CVC under the leadership of Dr Renee van Rheede van Oudtshoorn, vaccinated more than 41,000 animals in just 16 months, successfully controlling the outbreak. However, the rabies challenge extends across the Eastern Cape. The Rabies Action Group (RAG) has been extremely supportive and suggested that attempting to vaccinate 70% of the dog population in the Eastern Cape province is a mammoth task. Based on previous learning, you can achieve faster results by vaccinating the RIGHT dogs at the RIGHT time! Therefore a quick response with thorough vaccinations being done in the area where a positive case has been logged, will produce results faster. With long-term sponsorship from Battersea, a global leader in animal welfare, we launched a three-year project in March 2024 to vaccinate 400,000 cats and dogs across the province. Since the project began, teams led by Optima CVC (Dr. Renee) and Buffalo City CVC (Dr. Gabriella Naidoo) have vaccinated over 100,000 animals, going house to house and delivering educational sessions in schools. The complexity and number of activities that Dr Renee and Dr Gabriella must manage is just mind boggling! Everything from relationships with government hospitals and clinics, state veterinarians and AHTs, animal welfares, private veterinarians and schools as well as keeping the vehicles on the road, procurements of stock, accommodation for the teams, maps and keeping track of the teams. In addition, our vets are mentoring the AHTs and booking teams on development courses too! What an amazing year it has been! My best wishes for wonderful festive season to commence 2026 with lots of energy! Claudia Cloete Director & Manager: SAVA-CVC Battersea has been helping dogs and cats for over 160 years and has a long-term commitment to increase its impact for animals, not just at its rescue centres but across the UK and around the world. To achieve this Battersea works with other animal welfare organisations, delivering training through the Battersea Academy and providing funding through grants programme to help millions of dogs and cats. v An initiative of the SOUTH AFRICAN VETERINARY ASSOCIATION Non-profit Company: 1998/016654/08 Non-profit Organisation: 000-234 NPO Public Benefit Organisation: 130001321 CVC News I CVC Nuus Celebrating Success and Looking Ahead: SAVA-CVC’s Impact in 2024
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