Dr Abdul-Jalil Mohammadzai – known as Dr Mo – is a director for the Mayhew animal rescue charity in Kensal Green, working overseas, who has been recognised for his mass vaccination of 132,500 dogs in Afghanistan.
He persevered through upheaval with global epidemics and political unrest during the Taliban take-over.
Now his team has taken top prize at this year’s ‘animals and the environment’ awards held in London.
The charity — which began 140 years ago rescuing strays in north London — has saved thousands of canine as well as human lives in its current programme to eliminate rabies in the Afghan capital.
“We have managed to create a safer environment for animals and people,” Dr Mo says.
“This wouldn’t have been possible without our teams in London and Kabul, working in difficult conditions to vaccinate dogs against rabies to save both human and animal lives.”
He is director of Mayhew’s Afghanistan project, which has been working through the turmoil of political unrest and the Covid pandemic.
Caroline Yates, Mayhew’s head of international projects, said: “Dr Mohammadzai and the Afghan team have achieved things in the face of serious challenges to create a world free of rabies.”
The charity was presented with a trophy by the Civil Society Media at the Royal Lancaster Hotel on July 3, hosted by BBC News presenter Asad Ahmad. It was chosen from a shortlist with two days of “challenge and discussion”.
Mayhew’s Afghanistan team has been inoculating dogs since 2017, despite Covid and civil war. The vaccinations had to be suspended until it was safe and permission to resume.
But there have been no recorded human deaths from rabies in Kabul for a year, which has been free of the disease in humans caused through dogs in the past 19 months thanks to his work.
Dr Mohammadzai, or ‘Dr Mo’ as he is more affectionately known, trained his volunteers in humane animal handling and restraint.
Mayhew was established in 1886 in Kensal Green as a veterinary animal welfare charity working in London and overseas.
