A BENEFIT-COST-ANALYSIS OF VETERINARY INTERVENTIONS IN AFGHANISTAN BASED ON A LIVESTOCK MORTALITY STUDY

This article evaluates a veterinary intervention program of the Dutch Committee for Afghanistan, started during the Soviet invasion of Afgha nistan, a 10 year period during which veterinary services were otherwi se completed disrupted. The veterinary field program was carried out m ainly by paravets. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted to measu re livestock mortality in districts that received veterinary services through the project and in neighboring districts that had not had vete rinary services for about 10 years. The survey indicated that livestoc k mortality in districts that received veterinary services was lower t han in districts without any veterinary services. Comparison of each o f the 22 age-species-specific district pairs showed a difference in fa vor of the covered district in 18 pairs. In 12 out of these 18 pairs, this difference was significant. Overall annual mortality rates differ ed (in relative amounts) by 25%, 30%, and 22%, in calves, lambs, and k ids, respectively, and in adult cattle, sheep, and goals, by roughly 3 0%, 40%, and 60%, respectively. In the absence of any other obvious di stinctive features between the compared districts, we concluded that t his difference in mortality was due to the presence or absence of vete rinary services. A benefit-cost analysis showed that the benefit-cost ratio for the program was between 1.8 and 4.8. The high benefit-cost r atio resulted partly from the fact that the costs of the program were low, because it was implemented by a volunteer-run, non-governmental o rganization. In addition, due to the special circumstances prevailing in the country, any input in combatting diseases at this stage was bou nd to have a relatively high impact. We concluded that: (1) the veteri nary program was important for the rebuilding of numbers of livestock and thus for the economy of Afghanistan, and (2) veterinary interventi on programs under these and comparable circumstances can be highly cos t-effective.