Over the years FVE has been noticing an increasing shortage of veterinarians in rural and remote areas in Europe. For this reason, we asked our members and target contacts within competent authorities to adress this issue and report us back key data.
We received data and information from 28 countries.
The reasons for the lack of veterinary professionals in rural and remote areas are diverse: unfavourable working conditions, difficulties to achieve the desired work/life balance and weak demand as some farmers cannot afford veterinary services.
The consequences of this problem affect veterinarians, animals and farmers alike.
By extension, it limits the economic development of rural areas. The increased workload for the remaining veterinarians tends to lead to burnout and retention problems. In some cases, veterinarians need to engage in outside activities, such as cattle insemination, to make up for the low demand for other types of services such as preventive work.
Luckily several countries have already taken measures to tackle the problem with different strategies. Download the report here.
