Towards Better Transparency of Veterinary Services

Transparency is an essential enabler to support better management of animal health, while facilitating safe trade. The Terrestrial Animal Health Code (TC) and Aquatic Animal Health Code (AC) of the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) include multiple references to the transparency of Animal Health Services. These appear in chapters on disease notification (TC and AC Chapter 1.1.); risk analysis and sanitary regulations in the context of trade (TC and AC Chapters 2.1. and 5.3.); antimicrobial use (TC Chapter 6.9.; AC Chapter 6.3.); and the evaluation of the performance of Animal Health Services (TC Chapters 3.2 and 3.3). The Observatory assessed the level of implementation of standards relevant to transparency.