Book Description:
Veterinarians are essential for controlling zoonotic diseases such as avian influenza, which spread between animals and humans. Most federal veterinarians work in the Departments of Agriculture (USDA), Defense (DOD), and Health and Human Services (HHS). However, there is a growing national shortage of veterinarians. This book determines the extent to which the federal government has assessed the sufficiency of its veterinarian workforce for routine activities, the extent to which the federal government has identified the veterinarian workforce needed during a catastrophic event and thirdly, the federal and state agencies encountered veterinarian workforce challenges during four recent zoonotic outbreaks. This book also discusses the 24 federal entities that were surveyed about their veterinarian workforce and analyzed agency workforce, pandemic, and other plans, as well as interviewed federal and state officials that responded to four recent zoonotic outbreaks.

This is an edited, excerpted and augmented edition of a United States Government Accountability Office report.

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Table of Contents:
Preface

Chapter 1. Results in Brief, pp. 1-5

Chapter 2. Background, pp. 7-9

Chapter 3. The Federal Government Lacks a Comprehensive Understanding of the Sufficiency of Its Veterinarian Workforce, pp. 11-31

Chapter 4. Efforts to Identify the Veterinarian Workforce Needed during a Pandemic and Large-Scale Animal Disease Outbreak Are Insufficient, pp. 33-40

Chapter 5. Federal and State Agencies Are Missing Important Opportunities to Ensure Efficient Use of Veterinarians During Disease Outbreaks, pp. 41-49

Chapter 6. Conclusions, pp. 51-52

Chapter 7. Recommendations for Executive Action, pp. 53-55

Chapter 8. Agency Comments and Our Evaluation, pp. 57-60

Chapter 9. Appendix I Location and Responsibilities of Veterinarians in the Federal Government, pp. 61-66

Chapter 10. Appendix II Scope and Methodology, pp. 67-71

Chapter 11. Appendix III Comments from the Department of Agriculture, pp. 73-83

Chapter 12. Appendix IV Comments from the Department of Defense, pp. 85-86

Chapter 13. Appendix V Comments from the Department of Health and Human Services, pp. 87-95

Chapter 14. Appendix VI Comments from the Office of Personnel Management, pp. 96-97

Chapter 15. Appendix VII Comments from the Department of Homeland Security, pp. 98-102

Chapter 16. Appendix VIII: Comments from the Department of the Interior, pp. 103-105

Index