Abstract
The government of Uganda has experienced continued fiscal challenges from late 1980s to date. Consequently, the provision of veterinary services was liberalized and decentralized. This exposed veterinary service provision to many actors without adequate regulation and supervision. With the resurgence of infectious diseases, increased economic and health risks especially to the rural poor, there is the need to understand relational patterns of actors to ensure good governance and address emerging and re-emerging animal diseases risks. A questionnaire surveillance was undertaken in the district veterinary service centres of Uganda to assess the status of veterinary diagnostic services and evaluate their influence in the delivery of clinical and preventive veterinary services. The structure of veterinary diagnostic services in the districts in Uganda is still lacking. There is need to improve veterinary diagnostic service delivery in the districts in an attempt to improve the control of livestock diseases in Uganda to ultimately improve livestock production and productivity and hence household income. Key words: Veterinary diagnostic services, Uganda.
Highlights
The history of Veterinary services in Uganda dates back to 1908 when the first British Veterinarian arrived to serve in the protectorate
A questionnaire was administered to District Veterinary staff at District Veterinary service centres by interviewing District Veterinary Officers (DVOs), Veterinary officers (VOs) and Animal husbandry officers animal husbandry officer (AHO)
Methods used for disease diagnosis included: Clinical diagnosis; farmer or environment; history; post mortem approach; wet, thin and thick, smears; faecal analysis, for example flotation method for faecal analysis; brucella antigen test for brucellosis in a few laboratories (Mbale, Soroti, Masindi); California mastitis test (CMT); drug sensitivity test for mastitis; haematocrit centrifugation technique (HCT)
Summary
The history of Veterinary services in Uganda dates back to 1908 when the first British Veterinarian arrived to serve in the protectorate. All the top veterinary posts in the country by 1953 were still dominated by British veterinarians These prevented the promotion of Africans without British qualifications by the colonial government to positions of Veterinary Officers or Heads of Department. This prompted the African diploma holders of the time to encourage one of their own to pursue further training in the UK. Clinical services, breeding and spraying for tick control were privatized, while vaccination of animals against epidemic diseases, quarantines and tsetse control were retained under the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) (Ilukor et al, 2014) These reforms were intended to reduce the costs of the public administration and to cut public expenditure.
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