July 01, 2025
Overview:
Veterinarians are essential for animal health, preventing disease outbreaks, and supporting communities that depend on animals. But access to veterinary care is unequal around the world, especially in low- and middle-income countries. In a collaborative study, OHT’s Dr. Thomas Van Boeckel mapped where veterinary practices are located globally and measured how far animals are from receiving care.
The Question:
What is the global distribution of veterinary services, and how can access to animal healthcare be improved?
The Findings:
Using web-scraping from 87 online platforms, the researchers collected over 300,000 verified addresses of veterinary practices across 115 countries.
They found that most practices were located in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, with far fewer in Africa and Oceania. Nearly 94 percent of animals that are more than an hour away from a veterinarian live in low- and middle-income countries. A targeted five percent increase in the number of veterinarians could reduce this gap by almost one-third.
This research provides important insights to help governments and public health leaders improve animal health, stop diseases from spreading, and better support rural communities.
Read the article in Nature Communications here.
