Around the world Posted on 2020-01-15 10:42:52
Success stories
Sanitary mandate in the field of animal disease control
Keywords
Authors
S. Zargouni(1), S. Ferchichi(2), A. Ripani(3), R. Bouguedour(3) & M. Zrelli(1)*
(1) General Directorate of Veterinary Services, Ministry of Agriculture, Tunisia.
(2) National Centre of Zoosanitary Vigilance, Ministry of Agriculture, Tunisia.
(3) World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Sub-Regional Representation for North Africa.
* Corresponding author: zrelli.malek@iresa.agrinet.tn
The designations and denominations employed and the presentation of the material in this article do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the OIE concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers and boundaries.
The views expressed in this article are solely the responsibility of the author(s). The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by the OIE in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned.
At the beginning of this public–private partnership (PPP), there were ten private veterinarians in six pilot governorates. Today, among 609 private veterinarians, 245 have a sanitary mandate to conduct vaccination campaigns.
The sanitary mandate programme has allowed the development of a progressive ‘win–win’ collaboration
In the last decade, the growing responsibilities of the Tunisian Government’s Veterinary Services have been amplified by multiple global trends, especially increasing threats from transboundary animal diseases. Moreover, declining budgets allocated to Veterinary Services have made disease control challenging. The sanitary mandate programme has allowed the development of a progressive ‘win–win’ collaboration and partnership between the public and private veterinary sectors in the field of prophylactic vaccination of small ruminants.
As a result of this partnership, immunisation coverage against notifiable diseases for small ruminants, such as FMD, has steadily increased from 48% in 2006 to 75% in 2018. In addition, the duration of vaccination campaigns has been considerably shortened (60 days instead of 120 days).
Cost–benefit analysis has also demonstrated that there was a net benefit to the state budget of US$ 0.045 for each vaccinated animal [1].
In addition, this programme has created employment opportunities for young graduate veterinarians. In fact, it is one of the main driving forces to encourage young veterinarians to take up private practice in under-served rural areas.
The implementation of the sanitary mandate is a way of ensuring the sustainable delivery of veterinary service activities.
The implementation of the sanitary mandate has been successful in many areas and the results are considered satisfactory. This is a practical way to ensure the sustainable delivery of veterinary service activities.
The involvement of the private sector can be extended to different areas, such as disease investigation (collecting samples during outbreaks), diagnosing animal tuberculosis and food safety.
Finally, the sustainability of the programme is affected by its financing. In Tunisia, this programme depends exclusively on public funding. For this reason, to ensure the sustainable delivery of veterinary service activities, a special animal health fund is needed.
http://dx.doi.org/10.20506/bull.2019.3.3054
References
- Drira H. & Le Brun Y. (2008). – Deuxième mission d’appui au fonctionnement du mandat sanitaire. Projet de renforcement des services d’appui à l’agriculture. Prêt BIRD (Banque internationale pour la reconstruction et le développement) n° 7063-TN.
