Ghana’s weak animal health system: Implications for human health and national development

August 2026 saw the unfortunate passing of 5 individuals suspected to have been bitten by a rabid dog in the Western Region. Like in many similar cases across the country, one rabid dog was reported to have bitten several persons in the community, leading to this.

This is surely not the only such event in many of our communities where unsuspecting members of the community succumb to diseases of animal origin. Such events, although easily preventable at very little cost to our health services, continue to occur because the health service system is largely one-legged. A glance through Ghana’s animal and human health services reveals clear and significant gaps.

While almost every aspiring government in the 4th republic has had direct policies to improve human healthcare delivery, very few can boast of the same for veterinary services. Yet according to the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 60 % of human disease and about 75% of emerging infectious diseases originate from animals.

At the forefront of the woes of the veterinary services is inadequate human resources. There are fewer than 100 veterinary doctors in the Veterinary Services Department of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, with far fewer in the private sector, academia, security services, and other government agencies.

Yet every one of the 261 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs), every slaughter facility, and every entry point across the borders requires a veterinary doctor to protect the public from animal diseases. This inadequacy has allowed for quackery and, in some cases, impersonation, leading to poor service delivery to animals and their owners.

The role of veterinary surgeons or veterinarians goes beyond diagnosing and treating dogs and cats to sustaining animal production within Ghana's livestock industries. Poultry sector year-in-year out suffers the significant disease outbreaks such as Avian Influenza (Bird flu) which do not only claim birds but leads to huge loss of farmers’ investments due to the stamping out strategy required to control them.

Pig production is embattled with swine flu, cattle production suffers from foot and mouth disease, and sheep and goats suffer diseases like Peste des Petits Ruminants, all of which cause significant economic losses to farmers and the country. Emerging and re-emerging diseases like Ebola and Mpox continue to remind us every few years that they exist in the wild animal populations and can easily spill over to human populations. The Infectious Spleen and Kidney Necrosis Virus, which causes up to 90% of deaths in Nile tilapia is reported to be present in 7 in every 10 fish farms on the Volta Lake.

Hence, this hampers the efforts of the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture to promote Ghana's aquaculture production for improved livelihoods and food security. Survival of wild fish stocks in our marine and freshwater bodies is at risk if this disease establishes itself in our water bodies. Certainly, the cost of poor veterinary services is more than just public health or economic.

The overburdened veterinary system is working tirelessly, but in my honest opinion, it’s simply not possible to win this battle with the current infrastructure. The laboratory infrastructure, for instance, has a few labs capable of basic tests. Several of them are not able to diagnose 10% of Ghana’s 28 listed diseases.

It feels I’m washing my proverbial dirty linen in public, but our forefathers say “if you do not sell your ailment, you’d not get a remedy”. After being in existence since the precolonial days, public health infrastructure at the regional and district levels often does not have veterinary representation. From my checks, representation at the key national level in public health has been inadequate.

This gap explains why diseases like bovine tuberculosis and rabies continue to occur in human populations. Safeguarding public health and food safety from a largely human health perspective is simply not holistic.

The service is definitely not morbid. The Veterinary Services of Ghana has one of the longest-serving vaccine-producing institutes, producing quality poultry vaccines for West Africa. Its few laboratories continue to provide support for human health service delivery. There are glimmers of hope which can be harnessed to improve the service. Most importantly, employing more staff and improving conditions of service to reduce the pursuit of greener pastures, which steals a significant number of the already scanty veterinary doctors each year, would be a good place to start.

Continuing with improving veterinary resource allocation and support for effective service delivery. Finally, sustaining a stronger network and collaborations with human health services at all levels would really provide comprehensive protection for public health.

This week, the Ghana Veterinary Medical Association is scheduled to hold its 52nd Annual General Meeting at Ho, Volta Region, from 28th to 30th October on the theme “Building a resilient 24-hour economy: empowering the veterinary frontline through modern technology and innovation,” and it would be interesting to see what comes of it. Indeed, an improved animal health system increases livestock production, offering a sure route for providing livelihoods, alleviating poverty, and ensuring food security in our beloved motherland. This might simply be a veterinarian's plight, but it surely is a call for better healthcare delivery for humans.