Legislative Frameworks for Enhancing Veterinary Services

Leveraging Public-Private Partnerships and Private Sector Engagement for Improved Animal Health and Public Safety

Legal frameworks can enhance veterinary service delivery through public-private partnerships (PPPs) and private-sector engagement. Three studies conducted across Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia reveal that many African and South Asian countries have PPP legal frameworks that could cover PPPs in Veterinary Services. However, reviews of animal disease control and veterinary professionals legislation in Africa and Southeast Asia show that only around half the countries have a legal basis for delegating official disease control responsibilities to private actors. This suggests that most countries could benefit from comprehensive reviews and targeted support programmes for strengthening their national legal frameworks to enable PPPs in Veterinary Services.

In an era of increasing global zoonotic disease threats, timely and efficient veterinary service delivery is paramount. PPPs help to strengthen the capacity of Veterinary Services to do so through pooling resources, expertise and innovation of public institutions and private stakeholders. However, the effectiveness of PPPs in the veterinary sector heavily depends on a robust legal framework that defines roles, responsibilities and accountability mechanisms. Because research remains scant on this important topic, the ensuing paragraphs summarise relevant findings from WOAH legislation reviews. 

WOAH Guidance on PPPs in the Veterinary Domain

WOAH provides comprehensive guidance on PPPs in Veterinary Services. According to the WOAH Terrestrial Animal Health Code, competent authorities should, where applicable, possess the authority and capacity to establish and engage in PPPs that deliver animal health, welfare and public health outcomes. A PPP in this context means a collaborative arrangement in which public and private sectors share resources, responsibilities and risks to achieve mutually beneficial objectives.

The WOAH PPP Handbook emphasises the following critical principles, which form the foundation for successful PPPs in the veterinary domain:

• Good governance through contractual agreements that stipulate clear roles, performance metrics and oversight mechanisms.
• Transparency and accountability, where all parties are held to high standards through regular reviews, monitoring and legally enforceable provisions.
• Legislative endorsement in national policies and legislation, which permit and actively encourage the formation and sustainability of PPPs by providing the necessary legal basis for delegating veterinary functions to private actors and supporting long-term investments in public health infrastructure.

Discussion: WOAH Legislation Reviews PPP Legal Frameworks and Veterinary Services

A recent WOAH evaluation scrutinised the existing PPP legal frameworks in selected countries in Africa and South Asia to determine whether they cover veterinary service delivery. PPP legal frameworks were grouped into four categories based on how specific the legislation and/or guidance documents are to PPPs.

Impressively, all countries reviewed regulate PPPs. In Africa, 73% of the countries reviewed adopted a PPP-specific statute, while in South Asia some countries utilise statutory frameworks and others rely on non-statute-based guidance documents. Importantly, the legal frameworks for 80% of the countries examined cover general service delivery beyond infrastructure development. This suggests that many existing national legal frameworks could support the formation of PPPs in Veterinary Services, provided that the services covered include public services.

Delegation of Veterinary Authority in Southeast Asia

WOAH conducted a comprehensive review of animal disease control legislation in Southeast Asia. One factor assessed was whether the legislation permits the delegation of official veterinary duties to non-government actors such as private veterinarians and veterinary paraprofessionals (VPPs). This delegation authority is critical during disease outbreaks because it permits rapid scaling of veterinary services and enhanced surveillance.

Fifty percent of the countries reviewed have provisions allowing for such delegation. Some countries explicitly authorise competent authorities to engage private entities for disease control support. Some additionally detail the delegation process, including required competencies, supervision protocols and financing arrangements. However, many countries could benefit from specifying the roles and responsibilities of private actors to clarify their role in national disease control programmes. It is notable that this could be covered in legislation that was out of the scope of this review (e.g. Veterinary Practice Acts).

Regulation of Veterinary Professions in Africa

WOAH’s third legislation review focused on the regulation of veterinary professions in Africa within Veterinary Practice Acts, including whether the legislation provides a legal basis for the delegation of official duties to private veterinarians and VPPs (i.e. sanitary mandates).

Approximately 65% of the countries have no explicit legal basis in the legislation reviewed for delegating official veterinary duties to private actors. Existing provisions are often limited to private veterinarians (i.e. they do not include VPPs). This is an important gap because the majority of the veterinary workforce on the continent are not veterinarians. Similarly, the legislation reviewed for around 70% of the countries prevents non-veterinarians from performing activities typically reserved for licensed veterinarians during emergencies.

These findings highlight the need for comprehensive legislative reforms allowing for temporary or emergency delegation of veterinary duties to private actors. This would enhance the capacity of Veterinary Services during crises and help build public trust by ensuring clear and consistent roles for all practitioners.

Summary of Findings

The WOAH PPP legislation review reveal that generally national PPP legal frameworks in Africa and South Asia could cover veterinary service delivery. However, the legislation reviews in Southeast Asia and Africa show that despite the differing scopes of legislation reviewed (i.e. legislation covering animal diseases and veterinary professionals) half or less of the legislation permits delegation of official veterinary functions to non-government actors (50% and 35%, respectively). These last two studies, despite different geographic and legislative scopes, show similar findings on the question of delegation to private stakeholders, leading to less engagement of these actors in veterinary service delivery. These insights collectively underscore that there are significant opportunities for countries to strengthen PPP legal frameworks for veterinary service delivery.

Recommendations

To fully harness the potential of PPPs in Veterinary Services, national governments should conduct thorough reviews of their veterinary and PPP-related policy and legal frameworks to ensure that all provisions necessary for effective collaboration are in place. Specifically, countries should:

• Strengthen Delegation Mechanisms, ensuring veterinary legislation clearly defines the conditions under which veterinary functions may be delegated to private veterinarians and VPPs, particularly during emergencies.
• Enhance Private Sector Engagement through policy and legal frameworks enabling private sector participation in Veterinary Services through private investment and expertise.
• Participate in WOAH PPP and Legislation Targeted Support Programmes, which WOAH should continue to develop through additional global reviews of legal frameworks for PPPs and veterinary service delivery, offering tailored assistance to countries.

Conclusions and Way Forward

The evolution of Veterinary Services in the 21st century will depend largely on successful collaboration between public authorities and the private sector through PPPs. A strong legal framework is a critical enabling factor for the creation and sustainability of PPPs supporting effective veterinary service delivery.

The WOAH legislation reviews demonstrate that significant strides have been made across Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia to enable private sector involvement in veterinary service delivery but major gaps remain, including delegation to the private sector.

National governments must therefore prioritise the review and/or creation of legal frameworks enabling PPPs in the veterinary domain, complemented by clear guidance procedures to operationalise PPPs, ensuring consistency, accountability and transparency in service delivery. This will accordingly allow these PPPs to help enhance collaboration and trust between public authorities and private actors, thereby improving veterinary service delivery, strengthening disease control mechanisms, and contributing to global efforts to combat zoonotic diseases and ensure food security.

More information

The OIE PPP Handbook: Guidelines for Public-Private Partnerships in the Veterinary Domain, 2019. Available in English, French and Spanish

Contact: Rahul Srivastava ([email protected]), Public-Private Partnership Project, Capacity-Building Department

Authors: Kelsey Galantich (FAO), Rahul Srivastava (WOAH), David Sherman (retired)

Photo © Keith Hamilton