The World Veterinary Association is a federation representing more than eighty veterinary medical associations around the world. Its objective is to promote animal health and welfare and the realisation that animals and man live interconnected lives. It works on behalf of its member organisations with the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...

, the

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

, the

World Organisation for Animal Health The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), formerly the (OIE), is an intergovernmental organization coordinating, supporting and promoting animal disease control. Mission and status The main objective of the WOAH is to control epizo ...

and others to further the interests of animals, humans and the environment we all live in.

History

Dr John Gamgee, Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at the

Dick Veterinary College The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, commonly referred to as the Dick Vet, is the veterinary school of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and part of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine the head of which is Moira Why ...

, Edinburgh invited other veterinary academics and veterinarians from Europe to a meeting at

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

, Germany in July 1863. This later became known as the World Veterinary Congress and was attended by 103 veterinarians from ten countries. The objective of the meeting was to coordinate the response to rinderpest and other

epizootic In epizoology, an epizootic (from Greek: ''epi-'' upon + ''zoon'' animal) is a disease event in a nonhuman animal population analogous to an epidemic in humans. An epizootic may be restricted to a specific locale (an "outbreak"), general (an "epi ...

diseases. At the sixth such congress in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

, Hungary in 1906, a permanent committee was set up to provide an organisational link between the congresses, and at the sixteenth congress in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, Spain, in 1959, it was determined to form the World Veterinary Association (WVA). At the same congress, a decision was taken to also set up the International Association of Small Animal Specialists, for organisations representing small animal practitioners, and this had its first meeting two years later in London. By the twenty-fifth congress in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

, Japan, in 1995, there were over ten thousand participants representing 82 countries.

Mission

The WVA mission is "to assure and promote animal health and welfare and public health globally, through developing and advancing veterinary medicine, the veterinary profession as well as public and private veterinary services."

Activities

The WVA holds a congress in different parts of the world every two years. It has an online library providing access to information on veterinary topics, research, reports and other WVA-related material. It publishes policy papers on the most important global veterinary issues. It publishes a newsletter and provides an online education portal.

References

{{authority control Veterinary organizations