Commonwealth Veterinary Association Book Program

It has been a busy year for the CVA Book Program. Many boxes of books have been sent around the world. Vets in Afghanistan, Belize, India, Jamaica, Malawi, Nigeria, Pakistan and Uganda were the recipients of some of the generously donated books. Many have gone to universities, where the books can be shared amongst both lecturers and students. Others have gone to private practitioners. Only one box of books was not delivered to its intended recipient – and it was returned unharmed to me!

The greatest difficulty has been getting donated books to me in Hobart. This problem has now been largely surpassed due to the very generous offer of Tim White at IDEXX Laboratories. Books can now be dropped off at their locations in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, as well as Auckland, Hamilton and Palmerston North in New Zealand, and IDEXX will freight the books to me for distribution. This has worked very well so far and I am very grateful to IDEXX for their support. Zebravet and Vetshare have continued to deliver books to me; and Jenny Cumming at the AVA in Melbourne and Trish Thorpe at the NZVA in Wellington also still act as depots. Thank you to everyone involved.

This year I was also able to help Dr Tiria Rere from the Cook Islands Department of Agriculture. He was in desperate need of some drugs and equipment for their veterinary programs. A number of first edition ophthalmology books had been donated. Members of the Veterinary Ophthalmology Associations of Australia, the UK and the US were notified, and then they were sold on eBay. A total of $479.46 was raised, which allowed the goods to be purchased and posted to the Islands.

If anyone has any donations or questions, please email me first at jimconnah@bigpond.com or ring on 0459 771972.

Jim Connah BVSc MANZCVS