Veterinary education in Africa : current and future perspectives : animal health management in the 21st century

Abstract

Veterinary services are indispensable to the sustained health and wellbeing of animals and humans, and agricultural economies of countries worldwide. Veterinary education, postgraduate training, and research, and adequate numbers of veterinarians, are essential to satisfy the millennium development goals, the objectives of NEPAD and the African Union, and the agreements regulating international trade.The relevance of the veterinary profession internationally is currently subject to profound scrutiny. Its contributions are assessed against major environmental, demographic, political, disease, technological and economic needs. The scope of veterinary training in future will have to emphasise veterinary public health, food safety, emerging diseases, international trade, bioterrorism, and biomedical research, within the context of a one-health system focusing on the interface between wildlife, domesticated animals, humans, and their environment. Within the context of time available, it would mean reducing the time allocated to training in the field of companion animals.A brief history and scope of veterinary education; current international trends in veterinary education and provisioning; and some perspectives on future veterinary training and initiatives applicable to Africa are provided.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perceptions Associated With Antimicrobial Stewardship Among Veterinary Students: A Multi-Country Survey From Nigeria, South Africa, and Sudan

“…Specific calls have been made to professionals for the prudent and responsible use and prescription of antimicrobials (26), effective stewardship of use (26), and emphasis have been placed on regular evaluation of veterinary education and training at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels as well as focused research on public health aspects of antimicrobials (5,9,25,26). In Africa, little efforts has been documented on the effects of veterinary training on antimicrobial usage among animal health professionals (27) despite the previous request to consider the global trend in packaging competent and relevant training for the doctors of the future (28). In this work, we conducted a multicountry survey of knowledge gaps, attitudes and perception of future African veterinarians in the use of antimicrobials with a view to identify and bridge training gaps identified.…”

Information Behavior and Expectations of Veterinary Researchers and Their Requirements for Academic Library Services

“…Meeting national goals, as well as the goals of the University of Pretoria is a priority at the Faculty of Veterinary Science (Swan & Kriek, 2009). A citation analysis of the 2012 and 2013 research output of the Faculty was thus conducted to investigate whether there had been an increase in publication quantity as well as publication quality (impact factors of journals), whether there was an improvement in international visibility (publication in international journals), and to reveal choices of journals for publication.…”

“…Research in the Faculty has an impact on the health of humans and animals locally as well as globally (Swan & Kriek, 2009). All higher education institutions in South Africa are under pressure to improve their research output and international research visibility (Kahn, 2011;Nel, 2015;Sooryamoorthy, 2013).…”

The Historical, Present, and Future Role of Veterinarians in One Health

“…As a result, veterinary medicine is still focused on food animal health, zoonotic diseases, and, in some areas, diseases that pass between livestock and wildlife. For example, in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa, with the republic of South Africa serving as the exception, agriculture is still the major emphasis of veterinary training and practice (Swan and Kriek 2009).…”