Addressing governance challenges in the provision of animal health services: A review of the literature and empirical application transaction cost theory.

Providing adequate animal health services to smallholder farmers in developing countries has remained a challenge, in spite of various reform efforts during the past decades. The focuses of the past reforms were on market failures to decide what the public sector, the private sector, and the "third sector" (the community-based sector) should do with regard to providing animal health services. However, such frameworks have paid limited attention to the governance challenges inherent in the provision of animal health services.

Measuring the quality of clinical veterinary services for Cattle: an application of a role play experiment in rural Uganda.

Background: The dominance of veterinary paraprofessionals in the animal health markets has been linked to the decline in quality of veterinary services. This study uses a role play experiment to analyze how the interaction of farmers and service providers influences the quality and the demand for clinical services for cattle. The quality of clinical services was measured by scoring the accuracy of the service provider prescribing the appropriate drug for selected cattle diseases.

Determinants of referrals from paraprofessionals to veterinarians in Uganda and Kenya.

Referrals between paraprofessionals and veterinarians are seen as a solution for improving disease surveillance, detection, and reporting as well as ensuring prudent use of antimicrobial agents in animals. This paper used data collected from paraprofessionals in Kenya and Uganda to identify factors influencing referrals to veterinarians by paraprofessionals using a probit regression model. The results show that the determinants of paraprofessional referrals to veterinarians include the following: paraprofessional's mobile phone ownership, gender, and training, as well as attendance of short term trainings, annual assessments, and membership in paraprofessional associations.

Providing animal health services to the poor in Northern Ghana: rethinking the role of community animal health workers?

The Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) system has been promoted as an alternative solution to providing animal health services in marginal areas. Yet, access to quality animal health services still remains a fundamental problem for livestock dependent communities. This paper uses the concepts of accessibility, affordability, and transaction costs to examine the perceptions of livestock keepers about the various animal health service providers.