Update on New Zealand Veterinary Conference (NZVA)

I recently attended the NZVA conference at the Claudelands event centre in Hamilton NZ, on behalf of the CVA. This conference was well attended by members across the veterinary profession at a national and international level with Presidents from America, Australia and China also attending.

The theme of the conference was ’ Worlds Infusion’ – stressing the importance of the interaction between animals, humans and the environment in which we all live. There were a number of lectures on antimicrobial resistance, animal welfare and the effect we all have on the environment. Presenters came from all over the world from America to St.Kitts! Multiple streams of presentations were run concurrently in sheep and beef, cattle, Equine, Companion animal and complementary medicine as well as combined plenary sessions.

I attended a board meeting on the first day for overseas associations with the NZVA board members and we discussed how each of our associations, namely American, Australian, Chinese Veterinary associations are structured and are funded. We also outlined the benefits of membership to each association. The Chinese Veterinary medical association is very new (7 years old) and their representatives gained a lot from this discussion. These associations all rely heavily on subscriptions to function and sponsorship just like the CVA.

I spoke at the NZVA AGM on the following day and gave a brief history about the CVA. I outlined all of the programmes the CVA has to offer including the book program, guest lectureships, study grants, partnerships and results eg OIE twinning CVA Rabies laboratory in India. I presented a couple of power point slides showing our website and online CPD link and also the CVA facebook page. I think these slides really helped the audience visualise the CVA as no other overseas association spokesperson had any visual material.

I spoke to numerous veterinarians and drug companies about the CVA- namely what it is (a lot had never heard of us) and what we do. There was a positive response to our organisation.

I feel moving on in order to remain relevant and visible we need all councillors to write articles for their national veterinary association publications about the benefits of membership of the CVA in order to remain visible. Providing links to the CVA website in these articles is very important for ease of access. Jeff has put a lot of work into the site and it is an excellent resource for those not close to other forms of CPD. I think we all need to spend a little time to promote the CVA worldwide through our national associations.

Best Wishes to all

Dr Deb Kirton BVSc (dist), MANZCVS, CVA Treasurer