World Veterinary Day 2025 reiterates the importance of teamwork

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OPINION

By Bessong Willington Ojong

April 26 is World Veterinary Day. Commemorated annually every last Saturday of April, World Veterinary Day acknowledges the thankless efforts and dedication of animal health workers globally.

The theme for this year’s commemoration is ‘Animal health takes a team,’ highlighting collaboration as a quintessential requirement for an effective veterinary workforce within a statutory institution. High-quality veterinary services require an interplay of multiple professionals, including clinical practice, public health, food animal production medicine, research and academia, regulatory and government roles, industry and pharmaceuticals, wildlife and environmental health, military and para-veterinary services, and animal welfare and advocacy.

In Uganda, more than ever, collaboration between veterinary practitioners and other complementary support roles filled by the veterinary paraprofessionals, such as veterinary technicians and nurses, veterinary assistants, animal handlers and caretakers, is critical. 

Teamwork and capacity building: Veterinarians, veterinary paraprofessionals, and allied professions

Findings of the 2021 National Livestock Census conducted by UBOS indicate that 71.5 per cent of livestock-keeping households receive animal health extension services from private sector vets, most of whom are veterinary paraprofessionals. With a few veterinarians in practice, often employed by the government, veterinary paraprofessionals (VPPs) are in many cases the first and only point of call to livestock owners at the grassroots.  

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) recognises the complementarity amongst veterinarians, VPPs, academia, researchers, and other allied professions in the development of an efficient, inclusive, and sustainable agrifood system in Uganda. To this end, through public-private partnerships, FAO encourages the enhancement of related professional capacities to better support peasants, smallholders, and commercial farmers in preventive, clinical, and diagnostic health care. FAO supports the Uganda Veterinary Board (UVB) to play its statutory role in governance and continuous professional development.

From a One health perspective, FAO, alongside members of the Quadripartite, World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), World Health Organisation (WHO), and United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) work to bridge critical gaps in member countries’ health security capacities. From the animal health perspective, FAO supports stakeholders to address critical gaps in the areas of disease surveillance, control of zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial resistance, national veterinary laboratory systems, biosafety and biosecurity, food safety and animal health workforce development.

Veterinarians and veterinary paraprofessionals in Uganda have continued to take advantage of important trainings in the areas of In-Service Applied Veterinary Epidemiology Training (ISAVET), Good Emergency Management Practices (GEMP), Climate-Smart Livestock Production, Simulation Exercises for Animal Disease Emergencies, Preventive Livestock Healthcare and a host of other animal health courses accessible from the FAO E-learning Academy or FAO Virtual Learning Centre. These training programs aim to build frontline veterinary skills, protect human health, and reduce economic losses associated with animal diseases in Uganda. 

On this World Veterinary Day, FAO joins the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Uganda Veterinary Association, United Veterinary Paraprofessionals Association and the Uganda Veterinary Board as they foster good collaboration and partnerships for efficient animal health service delivery and supporting one health policy in Uganda.

The writer is the Country Team Leader, FAO's Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Disease (ECTAD), Uganda