Delegates and Veterinary Services’ staff adapted innovative uses of PVS data for more bankable investment cases in animal health

The PVS Pathway Information System (PVS IS) has been presented to Delegates and Veterinary Services’ staff from Samarkand to Qingdao to Quito for more impactful and bankable project development to improve animal health and welfare.

The European and American Experience

Members and Stakeholders participated in several workshops around the world this fall. At the 31st Conference of the Regional Commission of Europe, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on 2 October, and at the 27th Conference of the Regional Commission of the Americas, in Quito, Ecuador on 29 November, Delegates, Veterinary Services’ (VS) staff, and WOAH Partners took advantage of a workshop on uses of PVS data for strategic advocacy and investments in animal health. The participants discovered interactive dashboards and newly developed indicators that can help promote the needs and actions of the Veterinary Services.

The Chinese and African Experience

At the China Experience Sharing Workshop in the PVS Pathway and implementation updates held in October this year, participants tested the system and familiarised themselves with the PVS IS in a training environment. The system was perfectly adapted to the Chinese language, allowing participants to easily discover the recommendations and findings. This demonstrates the system’s adaptability and flexibility for national use and its ability to overcome language barriers.

At the Continental Conference Towards a More Resilient Veterinary Workforce for Africa late last November, attendees were exposed to newly available performance data based on PVS indicators of African Members, including global and regional veterinary workforce, education, legislation, regulation and communication. The conference showcased PVS data, presented throughout the plenary and thematic sessions, and highlighted opportunities for action and progress.

Empowering users for greater impact, action and investor confidence

Members’ positive experiences with PVS data housed in the PVS IS reinforce why WOAH developed the system: so that digitalisation of PVS data would lead to empowerment and greater impact and action. Failure to create attractive investment cases is a key bottleneck for the development of the VS globally. Evidence-based investment cases are key to meeting infrastructure and service gaps. Inspiring confidence among investors, demonstrating financial viability and promoting accountability and transparency triggers a virtuous investment cycle. A well-resourced, transparent and accountable VS can provide millions of people with access to key services they lack to impact their livelihoods and improve animal health and welfare. The trainings showed that PVS data can support Members in their ability to create bankable and investment-ready projects.

Recognition of the rich and invaluable data in the PVS IS is growing. The Pandemic Fund has recently included PVS indicators of Veterinary Services in its Results Framework for critical animal health and One Health activities for WOAH’s Members. This inclusion resulted in US$ 140 million invested in 11 Members in 2023, with more investments expected this year. 

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Contact: Jennifer Lasley ([email protected] or [email protected]), Valentyna Sharandak and Barbara Alessandrini, WOAH Capacity Building Department

Significant strides made towards improving Veterinary Services’ outcomes through more accessible and useful PVS data

The PVS Pathway Information System (PVS IS) has been launched on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the World Organisation for Animal Health at the 91st General Session of the World Assembly of Delegates.

WOAH developed the PVS Information System so that its digitalisation could lead to greater impact of the PVS Pathway. Through innovative data visualisation and analysis techniques, WOAH has unlocked valuable text data. This allows governments, investors and partners to access, use and act upon the recommendations more easily, efficiently and strategically.

Offering complete documentation of the performance of the Veterinary Services, PVS reports contain insights and recommendations that have been useful to governments, investors and partners of the Veterinary Services. However, it has been challenging to explore, summarise and implement this rich data and the recommendations on how to improve the performance and quality of the Veterinary Services according to the WOAH International Standards due to its text format. 

Given WOAH’s efforts to make PVS data more accessible and useful according to the PVS Pathway programme’s Theory of Change, significant efforts were mobilised to achieve its goal of improved Veterinary Services, health and welfare and livelihoods. PVS data has never been more accessible and useful for Members’ Veterinary Services to advocate for and prioritise their investments in the veterinary domain. WOAH continues to digitalise the PVS Pathway for its Members’ use and benefit.

Establishing trends through the PVS Monitoring Cycle

A major benefit of the PVS Information System is the development of key performance indicators to assist Delegates in understanding their VS progress since their first PVS Evaluation. The PVS Monitoring Cycle regularly monitors Veterinary Services performance through PVS Initial and Follow-up Evaluations every 5 years. Next a targeting and costing exercise, the PVS Gap Analysis and Update, focuses investments and efforts according to established and costed activities and work plans.  

Dynamic dashboards to explore trends and insights on VS performance

Migrating past data from all PVS Evaluation type reports (n=212 since 2006) was prioritised to preserve the precious trend data used by so many VS partners and stakeholders around the world – including the World Bank, Pandemic Fund, WHO, FAO, The Gates Foundation and others – for critical agriculture, health and One Health activities for WOAH’s Members. 

The trend data at the national, regional and global levels is featured in the dozens of visualisations developed, based on the PVS Levels of Advancement (LOA) and recommendations, strengths and weaknesses analysed. This insight allows Delegates, Partners and WOAH to use PVS data for action and investment at the VS level, decision making and improved development of WOAH’s International Standards.

Future PVS reports with more actionable recommendations and cleaner reporting

Work continues to automate processes so that implementation of PVS missions will become easier than ever. The automation of processes related to travel, security, budget, accounting, correspondence, expert selection and more will make the process more efficient, reducing errors and delays. Moreover, online data collection and report forms are under development for all future initial and Follow-up PVS Evaluation-type missions, and dashboards will feature real-time data insights. 

Stay tuned for updates and training opportunities!

Contact: Jennifer Lasley ([email protected]) and Barbara Alessandrini, WOAH Capacity Building Department

Enabling Delegates to access and explore their PVS data like never before, empowering them to make informed decisions

Offering complete documentation of the performance of the Veterinary Services, PVS reports contain insights and recommendations used by governments, investors and partners to advocate for and prioritise their investments in the veterinary domain. Such recommendations have resulted in many success stories over the rich 18-year history of the PVS Pathway programme. 

The impact of WOAH’s flagship capacity-building programme

To further document the impact of the programme according to its theory of change, WOAH initiated the PVS Pathway Recommendations Impact Evaluation. Here, current Delegates were asked to share their perceptions of the outputs, outcomes and impact of the recommendations resulting from their latest PVS report. This survey will contribute to our baseline understanding of programme impact before the global launch of the PVS Information System (PVSIS), targeted for May 2024. 

Preliminary results show that 93% of respondents were satisfied with the recommendations given in PVS reports. Furthermore, 56% attributed all or most of the changes observed in their Veterinary Services (VS) to their engagement in the PVS Pathway, and 71% are hopeful to achieve all or most of the PVS recommendations. The vast majority of respondents (98%) reported that the PVS recommendations made by PVS Experts and presented in PVS reports have had a positive impact on their ability to take concrete actions to improve the performance of their Veterinary Services/Aquatic Animal Health Services. After their latest PVS activity, 39% reported an increase in their financial resources.

However, digitalisation and automation can lead to greater impact, which is why WOAH has developed the PVS Information System. Through innovative data visualisation and analysis techniques, WOAH has unlocked valuable text data. This allows governments, investors and partners to access, use and act upon the recommendations more easily, efficiently and strategically.

A vast array of features and visualisations for prioritisation

 The key features of the PVSIS allow users to:

• view all past PVS reports in .pdf;
• see historical PVS Pathway engagement;
• preview Evaluation reports through collapsible and expandable features;
• explore Critical Competencies and Levels of Advancement;
• explore recommendations, strengths, weaknesses and findings for each Critical Competency;
• view performance data and trends across historical data for the first time through dashboards, based on data extracted from PVS reports.

The implementation of PVS missions will become easier than ever. The automation of processes related to travel, security, budget, accounting, correspondence, expert selection and more will make the process more efficient, reducing errors and delays. Moreover, online data collection and report forms are under development for all future initial and Follow-up PVS Evaluation-type missions, and dashboards will feature real-time data insights. 

Security and trust at the heart of the System

 The PVSIS is designed to maintain the same level of confidentiality that Members have already established for all existing PVS reports. While the System allows each Member to view their data securely, they will not have permission to view any other Member’s identifiable data. All interactive dashboards will present all PVS data anonymously and grouped as a cohort analysis, to respect each Member’s preferences and confidentiality.

Delegates who have engaged with the PVS Pathway since 2006 have received instructions on how to connect to the System. We invite them to explore the portal and verify the information’s accuracy. Members with feedback or questions are invited to contact with any queries related to using the data in the System. Likewise, if they are interested in participating in the WOAH PVS Pathway Recommendations Impact Evaluation Survey.

A soft launch will progressively unveil the Information System to WOAH’s network – its staff, Members, PVS experts, partners, and donors – before culminating in its global launch in May 2024.

Stay tuned for updates and training opportunities!

Contact: Jennifer Lasley ([email protected]) and Barbara Alessandrini, WOAH Capacity-Building Department

17th Regional Commission for the Middle East Conference, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 1–5 October 2023

WOAH urged conference members to collaborate across sectors, strengthen financial mechanisms, and invest in the national Veterinary Services in a targeted manner. It also encouraged them to leverage the support provided by the Organisation to mobilise their national authorities and ensure adequate funding for these Veterinary Services.

Participants discussed the challenges and opportunities for two main technical items: One Health and Sustainability of Veterinary Services. They developed two recommendations that will be presented to the World Assembly of Delegates for endorsement in May 2024.

One Health implementation – antimicrobial resistance and rabies

As the One Health approach recognises the interconnection between animal, human and environmental health, cross-sectoral collaboration is critical to ensure effective implementation of the One Health National Action Plans. Participants identified two priorities: antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and rabies control. Both require multi-sectoral coordination under the One Health approach.

The Middle East Region aims to lead on AMR and will work to further the recently signed Gulf Cooperation Council plan to address outbreaks of resistant microbes in the animal health field. The Commission commended the plan and expressed interest in it becoming the first inter-ministerial regional network on AMR.

The Conference also acknowledged the challenges of dog population management for rabies elimination and encouraged the use of WOAH tools and standards to support this goal. Sustained dog vaccination is a critical element for eliminating dog-mediated rabies. Delegates were reminded about the different tools available, including capacity building activities and the United Against Rabies Forum.

Sustainability of Veterinary Services

The Commission recognised the need for governments to develop a regional strategy to promote cooperation, collaboration and solidarity among regional Members. It also emphasised the necessity for Members to further engage in the Performance of Veterinary Services (PVS) Pathway, to update and complete their legislative and regulatory frameworks, which will increase the authority of each element in the veterinary domain.

WOAH Delegates unanimously recognised the critical need to strengthen existing national financial mechanisms and actively seek alternative financial arrangements. The conference called for action by Members and partners to consider potential regional investment opportunities. Finance opportunities through the Pandemic and One Heath Funds were mentioned along with practical information on how to approach finance. The importance of identifying the beneficiaries of the investments was stressed to better guide Veterinary Services to identify the origin of funds, including potential support from the private sector.

Targeted regional investment

There is a need to invest in the Middle East region through the World Fund. Targeted intra-regional investments could support regional strategies, coordination and harmonisation. This could position the Region as a global leader in animal health and biosecurity and ensure the intensification of WOAH activities.

Multiple avenues for investing in WOAH were also discussed, ranging from statutory contributions to extraordinary and voluntary contributions. These investments could fund targeted projects aligned with national and/or regional goals in the context of solidarity.

It is key to engage with respective ministries and stakeholders to articulate the compelling benefits of investing in WOAH. This will increase the understanding and appreciation of WOAH’s mandate, role and the added value of regional membership.

More information

The conference was held with the generous support of the hosting government and brought together 57 participants, including WOAH Delegates and representatives of regional and international organisations, as well as of the private sector.

WOAH Director General Dr Monique Eloit reminded Members of the Organisation’s mission to improve animal health globally and build a safer, healthier and more sustainable world. Veterinary Services in the region must strengthen their capacities and capabilities to implement policies and strategies for animal health and welfare, Veterinary Public Health and international trade.

Dr Sanad Al-Harbi, the President of the Regional Commission and Delegate of Saudi Arabia, closed by saying that the conference was a valuable opportunity for the Regional Commission for the Middle East to exchange views and experiences on the key topics and to reaffirm its commitment to improving animal health in the region.

Contact: WOAH Regional Activities Department ([email protected])

Main photo (left to right): Dr Monique Eloit, Dr Sanad Al-Harbi and Dr Fajer Sabah Al Salloom © 2023/Ministry of Environment, Water & Agriculture, Saudi Arabia

33rd Conference of the Regional Commission for Asia and the Pacific, New Delhi, India, 13–16 November 2023

The Conference underlined the importance of WOAH and its Members in ensuring that the global community recognises and considers the key contribution of Veterinary Services. It also highlighted the need for the voice of the Veterinary Services to be heard in all relevant political fora.

In a four-day conference, the Regional Commission for Asia and the Pacific welcomed regional and international partners, as well as experts and key staff from WOAH to engage in animated discussions on critical issues related to animal health and welfare in the region. The conference highlighted the crucial contribution of Veterinary Services to global health security. To support WOAH Members in ensuring global animal health and operationalising the One Health approach, the Organisation has developed international standards, guidelines, initiatives, strategies and tools in collaboration with partners.

Two main technical items were discussed: Preventing Zoonoses at Source and the One Health Approaches to Addressing Risk, with a focus on avian influenza. Discussions focused on links between these two topics, and the importance of collaboration and coordination to manage animal health risks. The adopted recommendations will form part of the WOAH work programme and should also contribute to the work programme of Veterinary Services.

Engagement from Members to ensure global health

WOAH Delegates unanimously recognised the need for Members to equitably allocate sufficient and sustainable funding to Veterinary Services. They also emphasised the importance of providing adequate capacity building so that Veterinary Services may properly exercise their role and thereby contribute to global health. To achieve this, Members must engage in strengthening the leadership and high-level advocacy of Veterinary Authorities. 

Cooperation and collaboration to better fulfil the role of Veterinary Services

The Conference underlined that preserving regional animal health will require developing a regional strategy that creates an enabling environment for cooperation, collaboration and solidarity. This will consolidate regional disease control efforts and ensure the sustainability of animal health.

Regional cooperation and collaboration are key to securing sustainable livelihoods and socio-economic development, and to making leaders of Veterinary Services in the global health agenda.

 Transparency

Given the key role of Veterinary Services in prevention, preparedness and response to global health security, WOAH Delegates confirmed their commitment to maintaining transparency through timely and comprehensive reporting of animal health and zoonotic events to WOAH. They also committed to sharing data for prevention and preparedness.

WOAH’s commitment to its Members

WOAH Director General, Dr Monique Eloit, reiterated the Organisation’s commitment to supporting its Members through the PVS pathway and associated capacity-building programmes. The aim of these programmes is to improve the performance of Veterinary Services and the workforce in compliance with WOAH standards. Dr Eloit also underscored that WOAH will continue working closely with its Quadripartite and resource partners to support Members in building the capacity of their Veterinary Services, as this will effectively manage the risk of zoonoses. Additionally, WOAH will continue to advocate for strong collaboration between veterinary, public health, environmental health services, biodiversity and other relevant authorities at the highest level.

More information

Following the kind invitation of the Government of India, the conference was held in New Delhi under the patronage of Honourable Shri Parshottam Rupala, Union Cabinet Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying. It brought together 81 participants, including WOAH Delegates and representatives of regional and international organisations, as well as of the private sector.

Honourable Shri Parshottam Rupala closed the conference by emphasising the importance of collective efforts to ensure sustainable livelihoods through improved animal health and welfare, including food safety.

Contact: WOAH Regional Activities Department ([email protected])

Main photo:  Conference participants © 2023/Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, India

The next developmental phase of the Performance of Veterinary Services Information System (PVSIS) is underway. The PVS Evaluation and Follow-up Reports have been migrated to a secure transactional database, which now allows text analysis. This feature unlocks valuable data and performance insights for Veterinary Services among the more than 140 Members engaged in the programme since 2007. In addition, the database can aid governments and partners in making evidence-based investment decisions in Veterinary Services.

Robust and resilient Veterinary Services are key to improving animal and public health worldwide. The PVSIS aims to meet the evolving needs of Veterinary Services to facilitate performance improvements by offering greater insight in addition to the narrative-based PVS Reports. A complete documentation of the performance of the Veterinary Services, the PVS Report contains insights that WOAH has unlocked so that governments, investors and partners can access, use and act upon their recommendations more easily. 

PVSIS objectives

The PVSIS intends to cultivate existing and future recommendations made in PVS Reports to monitor progress and prioritise actions. The insights highlight where experienced and independent experts recommend investment that can improve the performance of Veterinary Services. A further benefit is increased compliance with WOAH international standards and improved animal health and welfare worldwide. 

Powerful implications of the PVSIS

The innovation behind the PVSIS unlocks the power of historical data and insight contained in PVS Reports. At this critical moment in history, the Pandemic Fund of the World Bank offers an unprecedented level of support and investment for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.  Focusing on the strengths, weaknesses and recommendations for each PVS Critical Competency, WOAH has migrated all essential information to its database that allows for a quick and systematic analysis of these PVS trends.

For the first time WOAH is using natural language processing and machine learning, and a key result of this novel approach is insight into the most common and persistent recommendations, strengths and weaknesses of the Veterinary Services across the globe. Members can access this analysis via interactive dashboards with major indicators updated in real time as new data becomes available.

The PVSIS is designed to maintain the same level of confidentiality that Members have already established for all existing PVS Reports. While each Member will be able to view their own data securely, they will not have permission to view any other Member’s identifiable data.  All interactive dashboards will present all PVS data anonymously and grouped as a cohort analysis, to respect each Member’s preferences and confidentiality.

Starting in December 2023, all Members will have access to these functionalities.

The Capacity Building Department is developing the PVSIS in collaboration with external and specialised service providers SysReforms International and One Health Epi Consulting. We also worked with Delegates and partners via focus groups at this year’s General Session.

The system will cater to the main stakeholders of the PVS Pathway Programme, which include Members’ Delegates and Veterinary Services staff, WOAH’s institutional partners and donors, as well as PVS Experts who conduct missions upon request of WOAH Members.

The global launch will take place at next year’s 91st WOAH General Session in Paris, France, to coincide with the Organisation’s 100th anniversary. Training sessions will be available to learn more.

Also…

Delegates will be trained at this year’s Regional Conferences for the Middle East in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and for Asia Pacific in New Delhi, India.

Contact: Jennifer Lasley ([email protected]), WOAH Capacity Building Department

16 August 2022: Scientists of the ADAFSA Laboratory, WOAH’s Collaborating Centre for Quality Management Systems in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), met for the very first time with independent experts after initial remote conversations. The goal: to assess the capacity of their national veterinary laboratory network. This Sustainable Laboratories mission—an option proposed through WOAH’s Performance of Veterinary Services (PVS) Pathway—was transformed into a hybrid virtual and face-to-face capacity building activity to meet urgent capacity development needs in the wake of the pandemic.

“The hybrid PVS mission helped us look deep into our functions”

Paving the way for physical meetings in 2022, the initial round of capacity building consultations between laboratory members and experts initiated a data collection process as early as April. This wider time-frame, compared with traditional PVS missions, ensured maximum availability of all participants, and was a pivotal factor in the success of the mission.

“[The hybrid format] provided an opportunity to evaluate the efficiency and sustainability of our laboratory system and to get more information, knowledge and feedback from the experts”, says Dr Asma Mohammed, Director of the ADAFSA Veterinary Laboratories. “It was the best way to involve our lab team without affecting our workflow”.

The data collection tool provided by WOAH allowed participants to visualise and evaluate their own data immediately. It offered them the opportunity to “look deep into [their] functions”, making the subsequent assessment and recommendation phases more relevant.

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Providing Members with actionable information and capacity building to improve animal health

With the support of WOAH’s PVS experts both online and face-to-face, UAE’s participants made significant advances in capitalising on their unique expertise in camel diseases such as Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), peste des petits ruminants (PPR) and brucellosis. Knowing the scientific importance of reliable diagnosis of these diseases and its commercial potential at a global scale, Dr Mohammed’s team now aims to become a certified provider of proficiency testing schemes. “The goal is to improve camel health systems by implementing WOAH international Standards, and to communicate and disseminate those standards beyond our borders”, Dr Mohammed says.

The participants also initiated a partnership with national academic institutions to launch histopathology kits for training purposes. Thanks to samples collected for over twenty years during post-mortem analyses of camels, the participants were able to fill the gap in commercially available histopathology slides for camel diseases, and supply university students with this specific training material. PVS experts spearheaded the idea to create  digital kits to be deployed globally, providing a state-of-the-art training tool for universities worldwide and a financial investment for ADAFSA Laboratories. “It’s supporting animal health, it’s supporting the quality of the test, it’s improving the human and technical competency level and it’s an area of investment”, Dr Mohammed says.

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Capacity building at a regional level through hybrid training

A similar hybrid approach was chosen for the 2022 capacity building training session on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) organised as part of the “Working Together to Fight Antimicrobial Resistance” Tripartite Project (WOAH, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and Pan American Health Organization), funded by the European Union. The training was delivered by the ANLIS-Malbrán Institute of Argentina, a WHO Collaborating Centre. Participants from several countries in the Americas addressed the theoretical aspects of AMR during nine virtual sessions before putting their new capacities to the test during a three-day intensive practical workshop.

Sharing of knowledge, procedures and best practices was an integral part of the training. The participants were also able to collaborate and share their experiences during the on-site part of the workshop, praising the exchanges and the connectivity it enabled beyond national borders, at a regional level.

Training the veterinary workforce beyond borders

Because the continuous and agile training of the veterinary workforce is an essential part of improving animal health globally, WOAH intends to pursue hybrid PVS missions in the future. Simultaneously, it keeps on providing quality capacity building activities to all its Members: in 2022, its online training portal continued offering free resources, activities and discussions to animal health stakeholders worldwide. Moreover, over 25 new modules are currently under development, covering areas such as emergency management, wildlife trade and surveillance, and leadership in Veterinary Services. Some of them will be part of the organisation’s online training catalogue in 2023.