Measuring the quality of clinical veterinary services for Cattle: an application of a role play experiment in rural Uganda

BMC Research Notes

Regina Birner¹  John Ilukor² 

[1] Institute of Agricultural Economics and Social Sciences in the Tropics and Subtropics, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany;CGIAR Standing Panel on Impact Assessment (SPIA), FAO, Rome, Italy

关键词: Role play game;    Lemon market;    Belief updating;   

Others  :  1092350
DOI  :  10.1186/1756-0500-7-894

 received in 2013-09-04, accepted in 2014-11-13,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

The dominance of veterinary paraprofessionals in the animal health markets has been linked to the decline in quality of veterinary services. This study uses a role play experiment to analyze how the interaction of farmers and service providers influences the quality and the demand for clinical services for cattle. The quality of clinical services was measured by scoring the accuracy of the service provider prescribing the appropriate drug for selected cattle diseases.

Methods

The game was played in four rounds. Farmers were given “animal medical card” with the name of the disease written on it both in English and the local language in each round. Service providers were asked to write the clinical signs, and prescribe the drugs.

Results

The results show that the ability to identify the signs of different diseases and the accuracy of prescriptions by veterinarians is not significantly different from that of paraprofessionals trained in veterinary science. However, the ability of service providers who are not trained in veterinary medicine to perform these tasks is significantly lower than that of service providers trained in veterinary science. The continued interaction between paraprofessionals and veterinarians gradually leads to an improvement in the ability of paraprofessionals trained in general agriculture and social sciences to perform these tasks. This was not the case for paraprofessionals with no formal training or education. Farmers do not easily change their beliefs about paraprofessionals, even if they receive information on their inability to diagnose diseases correctly and prescribe the correct drugs. Belief updating depends not only on the outcome of the previous round, but also on the gender of the farmer and the livestock production system.

Conclusion

This paper argues that the slow pace in which farmers update their beliefs about paraprofessionals limits paraprofessionals’ willingness to learn or consult with veterinarians. However, the use of “animal health cards” (records of diagnoses and treatments) could induce paraprofessionals to provide services of better quality clinical services for cattle and enable farmers to measure the quality of these services.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Ilukor and Birner; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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