The vision of the TGG is "All companion animal veterinarians have access to high quality essential medicines that are selected, prescribed and used to promote animal health and welfare without affecting human and environmental health."
The mission of the TGG is to ensure best practices for the selection and use of medicines including their quality, availability and responsible use in companion animals while engaging participation of stakeholders and the WSAVA Global Community under the concept of One Health
Veterinarians throughout the world rely on various nutritional, chemical (e.g., disinfectants), pharmaceutical, and biological products to allow them to effectively prevent, diagnose, and treat the various illnesses that afflict companion animals. While varying in incidence, these conditions are global in scope and benefit from a common approach to their diagnosis and management. The WSAVA has as one of its core goals developing guidelines promoting standards of care that often encompass appropriate use of nutritional, chemical, pharmaceutical, and biological products. However, there are contemporary and evolving issues common to these products that would benefit from a focus on their appropriate stewardship. Currently, the two most common issues are antimicrobial resistance and product accessibility, however there are emerging issues (e.g., compounding, black market access, etc) that would benefit from a collaborative and global approach to their understanding and guidance formulation.
The primary remit of the TGG is to monitor and address these issues as they become relevant to the global companion animal community, and to provide guidance as to a collaborate approach to address these through continuing education, minimum standards, and stakeholder engagement, based on an evidence-based medicine approach.
2019 Joint Position Statement on Regulatory Harmonization
- World Veterinary Association (WVA)
- HealthforAnimals
- Federation of European Companion Animal Veterinary Associations (FECAVA)
- Commonwealth Veterinary Association (CVA)
- Federación Iberoamericana de Asociaciones Veterinarias de Animales de Compañía (FIAVAC)
- Federation of Asian Small Animal Veterinary Associations (FASAVA)
- Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE)
- Fédération des Associations Francophones Vétérinaires pour Animaux de Compagnie (FAFVAC)
- Caribbean Veterinary Medical Association (CbVMA)
- Federation of Asian Veterinary Association (FAVA)
Endorsements
We’re delighted that the following WSAVA members have already endorsed our Position Statement:
- Belgium (SAVAB)
- Canada (CVMA)
- Czech Republic (CSAVA)
- Denmark (DSAVA)
- Greece (HCAVS)
- Indonesia (ISAPVA)
- Ireland (VICAS)
- IVSA
- Lithuania (LSAVA)
- Macedonia (MSAVA)
- Malaysia (MSAVA)
- The Netherlands (NACAM)
- Nigeria (SAVAN)
- NAVC
- NAVTA
- Serbia (SASAP)
- Spain (AVEPA)
- Sri Lanka (SCAP)
- Trinidad & Tobago (TTVA)
- WAVMA
Committee Resources
2018 WSAVA Position Statement on Equitable Access to Veterinary Therapeutics for Veterinarians Globally
“Ready access by healthcare professionals to pharmaceuticals (e.g., medicines, anesthetics/analgesics, etc), biologicals (e.g., vaccines, etc), parasiticides, and antiseptics is one of the key pillars of appropriate patient care, whether in human or veterinary medicine. Inequities in availability and access exist between various regions of the world for a variety of reasons. We call upon key stakeholders (regulatory authorities, manufacturers, and healthcare professionals) to seek solutions that would broaden access while maintaining the sanctity of the veterinary-client-patient+/- pharmacist relationship, where warranted.”
*This joint position statement stems from an earlier more comprehensive WSAVA statement (in the Resources section) which was developed based on member engagement on this issue.
Co-signatories
- World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA)
- World Veterinary Association (WVA)
- Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE)
- Commonwealth Veterinary Association (CVA)
- La Fédération des Associations Francophone de Vétérinaires (FAFVAC)
- Federation of Asian Veterinary Associations (FAVA)
- Federation of Asian Small Animal Veterinary Associations (FASAVA)
- Federation of European Companion Animal Veterinary Associations (FECAVA)
- Federacion Iberoamericana de Asociaciones Veterinarias de Animales de Compania (FIAVAC)
- Health for Animals
- Belgium - SAVAB
- Canada - AMVQ
- Denmark - DSAVA
- Estonia - ESAVA
- Ghana - GHARPRIVETS
- Greece - HCAVS
- India - FSAPAI
- Ireland - VICAS
- Kenya - KESCAVA
- Malaysia - MSAVA
- Norway - NSAVA
- North American Veterinary Community - NAVC
- the Netherlands - NACAM
- the Philippines - PAHA
- Poland - PSAVA
- Portugal - APMVEAC
- Serbia - SASAP
- Singapore - SVA
- South Africa - SAVA
- Swiss Society of Veterinary Dentistry - SSVD
Chair(s)
Dr Fergus Allerton
Fergus Allerton graduated from the University of Bristol in 2004 and completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Liege, Belgium. He is a diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Medicine and currently works at Willows Referral Service in the United Kingdom. Fergus is the current chairman of the Small Animal Medicine Scoiety and was involved in the development of the PROTECT ME guidelines. He is an active member of ENOVAT and is contributing to the recommendations for antibiotic use for surgical prophylaxis. .
Dr Jennifer Granick
Jennifer Granick, DVM, PhD, Diplomate ACVIM is an associate professor of small animal internal medicine at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. Her research focuses on clinical antibiotic use in companion animals and antimicrobial stewardship. She is Co-director of the Antimicrobial Resistance and Stewardship Initiative (ARSI) at the University of Minnesota and the Companion Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network. She chairs the University of Minnesota Veterinary Medical Center’s Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee. She serves on the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Committee on Antimicrobials, the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute’s subcommittee for updating the VET09 document to aid veterinarians in understanding and interpreting antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and the Minnesota One Health Antibiotic Stewardship Collaborative.
Members
Dr Stephen Page
Dr Pawel Beczkowski
Paweł Marek Bęczkowski DVM PhD DipECVIM-CA MRCVS: Dr. Bęczkowski is a virologist and a European Specialist in Small Animal Internal Medicine. He is an Assistant Dean, Director of Veterinary Affairs and Clinical Associate Professor at the Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, City University of Hong Kong.
Dr J Scott Weese
J Scott Weese DVM DVSc DipACVIM: Dr. Weese is a veterinary internist and a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. He is a Professor at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Director of the University of Guelph Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses, and Chief of Infection Control at the Ontario Veterinary College Teaching Hospital.
Dr Andreja Kastelic Hrcek
Andreja Kastelic Hrček graduated from the Veterinary faculty of the University of Ljubljana and now works in Slovenia as a small animal locum vet. Besides clinical work, she has been a Digital Content Editor for FECAVA – Federation of European Companion Animal Veterinary Associations for the last four years.
She plays a vital role in the veterinary community in her home country, where she serves as a board member of the Small Animal Veterinary Association and Veterinary Chamber.
Her main passion is a multidisciplinary approach combining design, multimedia, and social media with veterinary medicine. She has been involved in many projects to make evidence-based knowledge more accessible to general practitioners and pet owners.
Dr Ana Luisa Pereira Mateus
Ana Mateus is a veterinarian and a diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Public Health. She is a Scientific Coordinator at the Antimicrobial Resistance and Veterinary Products department at the World Organisation for Animal Health since October 2021. Ana graduated from the Technical University of Lisbon in Portugal in 2000. She has worked in first opinion small animal practice and on official controls. Ana undertook a residency and a MSc in Veterinary Public Health and farm animal practice in Glasgow University and completed her PhD at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) focused on antimicrobial use in cats and dogs. She then completed a traineeship at the European Medicines Agency on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and a field epidemiology fellowship at Public Health England. Ana worked for several years as a lecturer in Veterinary Public Health at the RVC teaching under- and pos-graduates and was involved in food safety and AMR research.
Dr Ellen van Nierop
Executive Board Liaison