Page 14 - The Veterinary Laboratory and Field Manual 3rd Edition

Preface

Donor agencies have made significant invest- service. The most important role of district and
ments to support the improvement of veterinary smaller regional veterinary diagnostic laborato-
extension services in low- to middle-income ries is to provide technical support for veterinary
countries. This has often been accompanied and animal health extension staff so that they can
by the establishment of laboratory networks. provide reliable animal health advice to the end-
Despite a growth in both the number and capa- user, that is the farmer/community. This support
bility of diagnostic laboratories, it remains includes the provision of technical advice, as well
evident that these services have often had a as diagnostic support, especially with regard to
limited impact on the well-being of farmers in the submission of appropriate diagnostic sam-
isolated rural communities or on the health and ples and the interpretation of test results. The
productivity of their livestock. Investment has quality of the service provided depends on the
often been focused on larger-scale agricultural level of training and experience of the staff,
enterprises and infrastructure and reporting sys- the availability of resources and on fostering
tems at the national or regional level. Farmer good communication between field and labora-
and community contact remains predominantly tory based staff. In many cases the availability of
with animal health extension services at the dis- training opportunities and suitable text books is
trict level where resources are generally limited restricted to staff based at well-resourced central
and laboratory support and facilities are poor. and urban facilities.
With the origin of many emerging and re- Despite wider access to the internet and a
emerging human and livestock diseases often proliferation of online learning opportunities,
traced back to rural settings, where there is there remains a need for a general handbook
close interaction between humans, domestic to cover commonly used procedures for animal
animals and wildlife, it is essential that a broad health and veterinary laboratory staff working
One Health approach to disease detection is in remote areas. This revised and updated hand-
adopted and that the sustainable development book aims to provide an easy to follow summary
and delivery of effective animal health extension of the laboratory techniques and sample collec-
services is supported. To achieve this, it is impor- tion guidelines that will be of practical value for
tant to enhance collaborations and information routine diagnostic work in small regional and
exchange between and within government district veterinary laboratories. The new edition
agencies. Early detection and rapid response to is supplemented by additional online material
disease outbreaks in animals also requires access for those able to readily access the internet. The
to a reliable and affordable veterinary diagnostic technology described is selected to emphasize

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