The Africa Veterinary Technicians Association (AVTA) is an apex association that brings together veterinary technicians from different countries of Africa as their recognized spokesperson and serve in support animal health service providers to improve animal health in the continent.

The vision of the association is to be a force behind the development of veterinary paraprofessional practices for improved animal resource industry service delivery and communities’ livelihood in Africa while the mission is to promote veterinary paraprofessional practices for improved animal resource industry service delivery through training, professionalism, advocacy and public awareness The nature and nomenclature of occupations varies from country to country however according to the WOAH Terrestrial Code glossary, veterinary paraprofessional “means a person who, for the purposes of the Terrestrial Code, is authorised by the veterinary statutory body to carry out certain designated tasks (dependent upon the category of veterinary paraprofessional) in a territory, and delegated to them under the responsibility and direction of a veterinarian.

The tasks for each category of veterinary paraprofessional should be defined by the veterinary statutory body depending on qualifications and training, and according to need”. They include, animal health technologist, laboratory animal technologists, horse farriers, equine dental technicians, meat inspectors, animal production officers, animal scientists, livestock officers, vaccinators, extension officers, animal health nurses, artificial inseminators, veterinary laboratory technicians, all of whom may or may not be registered by the national veterinary council or veterinary boards.

Based on livestock population statistics compared to the number of animal health professionals, within the context of emerging diseases and the need for more efficient service delivery underscores the need for VPPs and proposed critical areas of intervention in order to improve the quality of veterinary service to small and emerging medium scale livestock producers in Africa. This will intern contribute to the realization of sustainable development goal of alleviation of hunger and extreme poverty.