The role of a vet in society - an economics perspective

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The role of a vet in society - an economics
perspective

• Jonathan Rushton
• Henk Hogeveen
• Keith Howe

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Learning objectives

• In the next 45 minutes we will examine
• The roles of the veterinarian
• The nature of the different clients that the
  veterinarian has to serve
• Positive and negative aspects of the animals in
  society
• How to interpret the above from an economics
  perspective

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Learning material

• You will be given information to help understand
  these different issues and an exercise to
  reinforce your understanding of the information.
• You will also be provided with key references

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Introduction

• Veterinarians help to ensure that the animals we
  keep and manage have levels of health and welfare
  that society demands
• They achieve this through serving different
  groups and performing different roles
• Yet how many veterinarians are there?

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Number of veterinarians in Europe (EU, 2007)
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Number of vets per 1000 livestock units
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Veterinarians as a percentage of the human
population
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Introduction key facts

• Veterinarians as a group represent a small part
  of society who need to work with
• animal owners to achieve animal health and
  welfare outcomes
• representatives of society such as government
  officials and members of non-governmental
  organisations to achieve wider goals on animal
  health and welfare

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Introduction key facts

• Therefore vets need to collaborate and motivate
  others to improve their practices of animal
  management and care
• Economics can add value in this relationship by
  providing concepts and methods to place a value
  on animals and in assessing the value of changes
  in practice

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Introduction key facts

• Economics - the study of making rational
  choices/decisions in the allocation of scarce
  resources to achieve different goals

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Roles of Vets
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Roles of Vets

• Veterinarians are a resource used to benefit
  society by making animals healthier and more
  content, which people value
• They enable farmers to get more output from the
  feed, labour, and other resources they use in
  farm animal production
• They help pet owners keep their companion animals
  healthy and contented

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Roles of vets

• Veterinarians also help sport and recreational
  animal owners maintain the health and fitness of
  their charges
• And they can be involved in sustaining
  populations of rare wild animals
• In economic terms animals that are more
  productive, healthy and contented provide people
  with more food, happier pets, more raw materials,
  improved conservation etc. from given resources

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Exploring veterinary roles

• In order to explore the role of the veterinarian
  within society we need to
• Examine what roles animals have in society and
  whether these roles are static
• Identify and describe the clients of veterinary
  services
• Understand how veterinarians adapt to changing
  needs
• The steps we will look at are the beginning of
  using economic concepts when performing the
  complex activities that give the veterinarian
  their role in society

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Roles of animals
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The role of animals in society

• How many of you have eaten meat, eggs, milk in
  the last 24 hours?
• Who is wearing leather shoes and belts?
• Who is wearing a jumper or jacket made from wool?
• Who has a pet?
• Who has a horse?
• And who is a vegan?
• Even vegans are affected by animals as they
  compete for resources in the production of food

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Animals are a fundamental aspect of societies
All the roles of animals are sources of benefit
(value) to people
Feed and clothe people
Provide transport
Act as an investment and store of wealth
Give pleasure and company
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The role of animals

• The role of animals in society is NOT static
• For example just over a 100 years ago animals
  were largely kept for transport and draught power
• Through the use of fossil fuels and combustion
  engines this has freed both animals and land to
  for other activities

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For example
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And more seriously
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The role of animals

• Changes in the way we cultivate land has allowed
  an increase in grain production, which in turn
  has supported intensive livestock production
  methods
• Meat and livestock products have become
  relatively cheap and consumption has increased -
  overall people are wealthy and have more time
• People can now spend more time with their pets
  and the value of these animals has risen

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Intensification and specialisation of livestock
systems
Managed forage and conservation systems
Housing and handling systems
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Role of animals key facts

• Animals in societies are fundamental
• They serve a variety of functions which can be
  understand through the social and economic forces
  of each society
• These forces are not static and the role of
  animals is also not static
• In response the veterinary profession has
  modified how it helps people with the management
  of animal health and welfare issues at individual
  and national levels

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Role of the Vet in Society
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The roles of the vet in society

• The vet serves people through advising them how
  to manage and improve animal health and welfare
• Their interaction with the animal the patient
  is both
• direct - if individual treatment is demanded
• Indirect - if the owner the client is being
  instructed to change a practice or to implement
  an animal health intervention

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The roles of the vet in society

• In order to understand the role of the vet in
  society it is important to think of the
  relationship between
• the client
• the patient
• the vet

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The animal health and welfare triangle
Veterinarian
Patient
Client
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Who are the clients? the private sector

• The vet has a number of different clients who are
  private animal owners of
• Pets
• Sport animals
• Food animals
• They can also serve the needs of larger
  businesses such as
• Insurance companies
• A corporate business that runs food animal
  businesses

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Who are the clients?

• There are other clients who represent society in
  different ways
• Some these organisations will be private and
  represent
• animal owners
• people interested in animal welfare, wildlife
• Other organisations will be funded through
  taxation and have jurisdiction at a local,
  national or international level

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Important issues with clients

• Clients will demand different types of advice and
  services
• They will see the vet services and products as
  resources in maintaining health and welfare of
  their animals adding value
• Therefore, they will value these veterinary
  resources in different ways and will be willing
  to pay for this resource at different rates
• Some of this valuation will be influenced by
  government policy and business strategy

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Animal health and welfare triangle - economic
interpretation
Veterinarian
Resource
Money Instruction
Treatment Intervention
Healthy Animal
Advice Prescription
Expresses the value of vet skills to the client
When things go wrong!
Food Care Attention Housing
Patient
Client
Beneficiary
Resource
Resources
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Roles of the Veterinarian some examples
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Role of the Veterinarian small animals

• A dog is brought in a referral clinic with a
  suspected heart problem
• It receives a series of diagnostic tests and it
  is recommended that is has open heart surgery to
  extend its life
• In this example
• Who are likely to be the clients?
• How will this arrangement affect the type of
  advice and services provided?
• Who will capture the benefits from this procedure?

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Role of the veterinarian contagious disease
management

• An exotic contagious disease has entered into the
  cattle of a country.
• The disease causes production losses and also has
  an impact on international trade
• Veterinarians are asked to respond to the problem
  and find ways to eliminate the causative agent
• In this example
• Who are likely to the clients?
• How will decisions be made on the interventions?
• Who will be the beneficiaries from the animal
  health interventions?

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Role of the Vet in Society prescriber of
medicines

• A poultry system that raised broilers for meat
  has just received a batch of day old chicks that
  do not perform well in the first ten days
• The owner would like to treat the flock with an
  off limit antibiotic
• The veterinarian refused to prescribe the
  requested antibiotic
• In this example
• Who is the client?
• What are the costs?
• What the benefits?

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Role of the Vet in Society police person

• A dog breeding farm calls a vet in to treat a
  breeding bitch
• During the visit the vet notices that the
  breeding bitches are thin and some look very
  badly treated
• The vet treats the bitch they were called out to
  deal with
• She also talks to the owner about the general
  state of the other dogs
• In this example
• Who is the client?
• Who would be the beneficiaries?
• Who would pay the costs of any actions?

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Role of the veterinarian

• The veterinarian serves the needs and demand of
  different clients
• Private individuals
• Private organisations
• Public organisations

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The goals of the clients

• Overall the goals of clients are not simple to
  describe
• The goals can be driven by monetary rewards
• They may be influenced by a sense of stewardship
  for a type of animal or breed
• There may be an emotional link with the animals
  which in the case of pets and sport animals will
  be individual
• These emotional links can be strong enough for
  people to believe the animal to be part of the
  family
• Animal owners may have feelings of status from
  their animals biggest herd, largest animal,
  fastest horse

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The goals of the clients

• In addition the clients will have other goals in
  their lives competing goals for the resources
  they could use for animal health and welfare of
  their animals.
• The goals clients have for an animal and also the
  competing goals in their lives will influence how
  they regard a vet and value the veterinary
  services and products a vet provides.
• The goals will influence the role of the vet

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Summary
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Summary - Role of the vet

• The role of the vet is diverse from
• Private service and product sales business
  activity
• Managing contagious disease in society public
  role
• Managing pharmaceuticals in society public role
• Policing welfare issues in society public role

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Summary - Role of the vet

• These veterinary roles are complex and evolve
  with changes in how society values
• Animals and the resources and services they
  produce
• Animal health and welfare
• Vet services
• Important to place animal disease and health
  issues into a context of animals roles in society
• Understanding this social and economic context
  allows a deeper appreciation of the role of the
  vet

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Summary Role of the Vet and Economics

• Economics can add value in the understanding of
  the roles of the vet by
• Defining which resources are being used in animal
  health and welfare interventions
• Identifying the goals of the clients of the
  veterinary service and products
• Valuing the resources used and the outcomes from
  the veterinary interventions

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Key References

• Jones, S.D. (2003) Valuing Animals. Veterinarians
  and Their Patients in Modern America. John
  Hopkins University Press, Baltimore London.
• Introduction pages 1 to 9
• Norwood, F.B. Lusk, J.L. (2011) Compassion by
  the pound. The Economics of Farm Animal Welfare.
  Oxford University Press, UK.
• Chapter 2 pages 7 to 33
• Rushton, J. (2009) The economics of animal
  health and production. CABI, Wallingford, UK
• Preface pages xi to xv

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Contact

• Jonathan Rushton
• Royal Veterinary College
• jrushton_at_rvc.ac.ukhttp//www.neat-network.eu

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Additional slides
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Client the farmer

• There are different types of farmers
• Species they keep cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry
  capture the main species
• Type of owner
• Family farm
• Corporate farm
• Focus of the farm for cattle either milk or
  beef, but in other parts of the world cattle can
  also be focused on a dual purpose system
• The way decisions are made
• Different people in the household will be
  involved in resource allocation and the
  application of resources
• Having an awareness of the farm business
• Any decision in the farm context need to have
  strong economic motivations

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Client the pet owner

• The majority of pet owners will have species such
  as dogs and cats
• There will be other types of pets from such as
  rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters through to exotic
  and relatively rare reptiles
• These pet owners have in common the desire to
  keep a one or a small group of animals to a high
  standard
• Often these animals become part of the family and
  their health and possibly their welfare is as
  important as the people in the house
• Often this leads to people expecting treatments
  similar to those received by humans
• To manage this process a veterinary insurance
  market has developed

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Client sport animal

• In the United Kingdom the largest animal sector
  in the rural areas is the equine
• This sector employs more people and generates
  more revenue than the other farm animal species
• The income from this sector is largely around
  racing horses, but also showjumping and eventing
  horses
• This income comes from people attending events,
  betting and advertising
• The animal health specialist plays a significant
  role not just in the health and welfare of the
  animal but also investigating performance
• The role is therefore quite diverse

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Introduction

• Veterinarians serve an important role in society
  in terms of ensuring that the animals we keep
  have levels of health and welfare that society
  demands
• This raises a question of what are the roles of
  animals in society and is this role static
• If this role is not static how does the
  veterinary profession react to these changes
• And how can this reaction be guided to achieve an
  efficient and sustainable outcome for the
  profession and the role society demand from the
  profession
• Despite this critical role the actual number of
  veterinarians is relatively small

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Role of the vet an example

• A horse owner has a valuable stallion that has a
  bacterial infection
• They demand that the veterinarian use the most up
  to date antibiotics to treat the infection
• The veterinarian adopts the standard cascade
  procedures to treat the animals
• In this example
• Who is the client?
• How has the veterinarian decided on the procedure
  for treatment?
• Who are the beneficiaries?