Improving the performance of veterinary statutory bodies – experience with an OIE Veterinary Legislation Agreement Nicholas Kauta, OIE Delegate for Uganda, Entebbe, Uganda   David M. Sherman, Chargé de mission, Coordinator, Veterinary Legislative Support Programme, OIE, Paris

Introduction Map of Africa showing the location of Uganda Uganda is in East Africa, directly along the equator

Ankole cattle in Uganda

Introduction Uganda requested the OIE for an Evaluation of the Performance Veterinary Services (PVS) of the country. This was followed by requests to evaluate the veterinary legislation and conduct a PVS Gap analysis. The OIE PVS Evaluation was conducted in 2007, the evaluation of veterinary legislation in 2010 and the gap analysis in 2011

Summary Findings of the OIE Veterinary Legislation Identification Mission: Significant shortcomings were identified in four main areas: Food safety & animal welfare at slaughter Animal health & disease control Control of the veterinary professions Control of veterinary products (medicines & vaccines)

Control of the Veterinary Professions All the OIE missions identified existing constraints on the authority of the Veterinary Statutory Body (VSB) as provided for in the Veterinary Surgeons Act of 1958 The current draft Veterinary and Para- veterinary Practitioners Bill which was prepared to replace the Veterinary Surgeons Act also contained constraints concerning authorities of the VSB.

Potential for Harmonisation Around the same time, Kenya was adopting a new Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para- Professionals Act (2011) and Uganda saw an opportunity, not only to review our own existing draft Bill but to harmonise it with the Kenyan Act.

Shortcomings in the Control of the Veterinary Profession The most important gaps identified by the OIE mission relative to the regulation of the professions were: The lack of a suitable definition for veterinary medicine; The lack of reference to veterinary para- professionals, their training, credentialing, responsibilities and supervision; The focus on private practitioners with little mention of veterinarians in public service.

Shortcomings in the Control of Veterinary Profession, continued The draft Veterinary and Para-veterinary Bill, does not provide authority for the VSB to Establish continuing education requirements for re-registration of veterinary surgeons, or To recognize, register and regulate veterinary para-professionals.

Additional Shortcomings The Bill does not provide for authority for the VSB to set; Minimum qualifications (Day 1 competencies) for veterinarians and veterinary para-professionals or to require testing as a basis for their registration or licensure, Minimum standards for various training institutions to ensure that the desired quality of professionals is produced.

Other Shortcomings Continuous professional development is not defined. In the absence of a definition, determining what constitutes valid continuous professional development is arbitrary. There are no supporting regulations to the main law/bill

Assessment of Shortcomings The above point to a lack of clear registration criteria, i.e., explicit standards are lacking. For these reasons, among others, the Uganda VSB does not meet the international standards for veterinary statutory bodies as set forth by the OIE in Chapter 3 of the Terrestrial Animal Health Code. The OIE Assessment Programs (PVS, VLSP) were very helpful in critically analysing the situation regarding regulation of the professions and the necessary elements for legislative reform.

OIE recommendations The OIE Team recommended that the Veterinary and Para-veterinary Practitioners Bill be reviewed to ensure that the concerns are fully addressed. Consideration should also be given to the role of Community Animal Health Workers in Uganda to ensure that minimal standards are set and their work is properly regulated and therefore useful.

Objectives of the OIE Support on Veterinary Legislation To review and revise the Veterinary and Para- Veterinary Practitioners Bill with the goal of enactment in order to ensure that the Uganda Veterinary Board has the necessary powers and authorities to meet international standards for a VSB.

Objectives continued Objective 2 To harmonize the Uganda veterinary and para-veterinary practitioners bill with the Kenya’s new Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (2011) Objective 3 Determine the necessary training programmes required to guarantee sound and efficient veterinary service delivery and advise the relevant Ministries accordingly.

Activities The priority is to finalize the existing Veterinary and Para-Veterinary Practitioners Bill to upgrade the current version to empower the VSB to register veterinarians and veterinary para-professionals, and set standards for their training, regulation and control, so that responsibilities can be reliably delegated to them.

Progress made to date Signing of Legislative Agreement with OIE. Completion of the preparatory phase of the Agreement with an onsite visit from the OIE legislation expert. Subsequent implementation has had a slow start, but is ongoing.

Key Elements of the Agreement Identification and approval of the country project officer for the Agreement; Definition of the strategic objectives that will be supported by the legislation that is developed under the Agreement; Establishment of the administrative and operational arrangements to be adopted by the beneficiary; Identification of the composition of working groups and their functions; Decision on the programme of work for the duration of the Agreement; Establishment of specific benchmarks for monitoring implementation of the project.

Conclusion The full range of OIE activities in Uganda - PVS evaluation mission, Legislation Identification mission, PVS gap analysis mission, Legislation Agreement, have been extremely useful in widening the knowledge base in Uganda, clarifying various shortcomings and identifying suitable reforms that are prerequisites for development of the livestock sector.

Compliments Uganda compliments the OIE for supporting the consultancy services to the present point and is dedicated to complete the exercise.

“Uganda pastoralists” THANK FOR LISTENING ! “Uganda pastoralists”