About Veterinary Services
APHIS' Veterinary Services program protects and improves the health, quality, and marketability of our Nation's animals, animal products, and veterinary biologics. Our team includes veterinary medical officers, animal health technicians, epidemiologists, statisticians, and many others in specialized fields.
We work from locations throughout the United States to:
- Proactively prepare for and respond to animal health emergencies
- Manage national programs to prevent, control, or eliminate animal diseases
- Provide or facilitate animal disease testing services
- Ensure pure, safe, potent, and effective veterinary biologics
- Facilitate the safe trade of animals and animal products
- Represent the United States in international animal health standard-setting activities
- Conduct surveillance, monitoring, risk analysis, and modeling to strengthen animal health infrastructures
- Provide training and information to a nationwide network of accredited veterinarians, State and Federal officials, and other animal health partners who are the first line of defense for animal and public health
In all, we take a One Health approach, knowing that the health of animals, people, and the environment are linked. We collaborate with partners across multiple disciplines—from local to global levels—to find the best health outcomes for all.
Veterinary Services At-a-Glance
Here's a snapshot of some of our accomplishments in 2022 (15.96 MB).
- Continued to enforce an African swine fever (ASF) protection zone in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to prevent the disease from spreading to these locations or the U.S. mainland and assisted the Dominican Republic and Haiti in their ASF eradication programs to help contain the disease
- Monitored U.S. livestock health, including testing 23,783 samples for ASF and/or classical swine fever (with all results negative), and conducting 3,515 foreign animal disease investigations, of which 1,464 involved investigations of vesicular diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease and 1,322 involved poultry diseases
- Invested $16.9 million in the National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank
- Licensed 86 manufacturers and permit holders for 1,448 active product licenses/permits for the control of 278 animal diseases
- Initiated an emergency program to address nationwide detections of highly pathogenic avian influenza
- Endorsed 329,344 health certificates to facilitate safe animal and animal product exports and approved 2,663 facilities to export U.S. animal products
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