Synergies between veterinarians and para-professionals in the public and private sectors: organisational and institutional relationships that facilitate the process of privatising animal health services in developing countries

摘要

The delivery of veterinary services in most developing countries was, until recently, considered to be the responsibility of the public sector. However, over the past four decades, economic constraints and the imposition of structural adjustment policies (SAPs) have led to a gradual decline in public sector investment in real terms and thus a reduction in the quality and quantity of services available to livestock keepers. Many governments acknowledged that they were no longer able to provide services that were essentially of a 'private good' nature and introduced radical policy changes which sought to introduce the concepts of a market orientated approach towards agriculture and livestock production in particular. The role of government, in the future, would be to provide a reduced range of essential 'public good' services and to create a favourable environment in which the private sector could become established as a provider of 'private good' services and at the same time act as a partner in carrying out certain public functions under contract or 'sanitary mandates'. In almost all developing countries, however, these policy changes were not accompanied by appropriate development strategies. The reasons for this are complex. Firstly, SAPs may beconsidered to have been foisted upon governments by donors and are thus perceived by many policy-makers as the cause of financial problems, rather than a solution to them. Secondly, most animal health senior policy-makers in the public sector have beentrained as veterinarians and lack the required management skills to plan change effectively. Furthermore, as regards clinical veterinary service delivery, especially in rural or more remote areas, the solution fostered by donor investment, which involvesderegulation and the deployment of privately operating para-professionals, is often perceived as a threat to the veterinary profession and might result in limiting access to international markets for the trade of livestock and livestock products. An informal delivery system has gained a foothold in many developing countries in the absence of a well-planned strategy for the privatisation of animal health services. Most governments would now acknowledge that this presents a greater risk than the deployment of well-regulated and effectively supervised para-professionals. This paper explores some of the principal challenges facing policy-makers in their efforts to bridge the transition from full state provision of animal health services to the formation of a partnership with the private sector. Governments and donors need to take active steps to facilitate the process of privatisation of animal health services, especially those targeting the poorer rural subsistence and pastoralist farming systems. Thiswould entail an initial investment in developing the necessary management skills at all levels in the delivery system. Thereafter, further investment would be required to allow the changes to be managed using tools such as the strategic planning cycle. Should sufficient resources be made available to allow the full participation of all stakeholders in the delivery of animal health services, appropriate institutions and effective organisational relationships addressing all the more important issues willhave to be identified. The paper then proceeds to describe how different livestock production systems determine the level of demand for animal health services. If these services are to be provided on a financially sustainable basis, they must be tailoredto meet actual ratherthan perceived demand. Identifying an appropriate model for animal health service delivery thus requires careful analysis of the production system to be targeted. Governments and donors can play a useful role in providing resourcesfor this type of study as well as for appropriate market studies, business planning, training and access to soft loans. Finally, as regards regulation, as the law stands today, many activities current