Key takeaways
- An animal health information system joins five things on one record: animals and holdings, veterinary care, medicines, laboratory results and disease events.
- WOAH members report through WAHIS. An exceptional event, such as the first occurrence of a listed disease, is notified within 24 hours of confirmation, with weekly follow-up reports until a final report.
- Routine reporting is twice a year for the presence or absence of every listed disease and once a year for animal populations. Antimicrobial use is reported each year to ANIMUSE.
- When you assess a system, check that reports are produced from case records and not re-entered, that field teams can work offline, and that the laboratory is on the same record.
What is an animal health information system?
An animal health information system is the software a veterinary authority uses to record animals and holdings, veterinary care, medicines, laboratory results, disease events and control measures, and to report on all of them. You will also see it called a national animal health information system (NAHIS) or a veterinary information management system (VIMS).
It is wider than a veterinary management system. A veterinary management system runs clinics and field services: appointments, clinical records, prescriptions and billing. An animal health information system adds the laboratory, disease surveillance, outbreak response and national reporting. Some platforms cover both.
| Part | What it records | Who uses it |
|---|---|---|
| Animal and holding registry | Animals, tags, owners, holdings and movements | Clinics, field teams and inspectors |
| Veterinary care | Appointments, consultations, treatments, vaccinations and certificates | Veterinarians and nurses |
| Medicines | Prescriptions, dispensing, stock, withdrawal periods and antimicrobial use | Pharmacists and stewardship teams |
| Laboratory | Samples, tests, verified results and reports | Laboratory staff |
| Surveillance and response | Suspicions, cases, tracing, zones and control measures | Epidemiologists and emergency teams |
| Reporting | National dashboards and reports to WOAH | Managers and the national WOAH reporting team |
What WOAH asks its members to report, and when
Every member of the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) reports its animal health situation through WAHIS, the World Animal Health Information System, under Chapter 1.1 of the Terrestrial and Aquatic Animal Health Codes. The reports and their timing are fixed.
| Report | What it covers | When |
|---|---|---|
| Immediate notification | An exceptional event, such as the first occurrence or the recurrence of a listed disease, a new strain or a new host species | Within 24 hours of confirmation |
| Follow-up reports | How a notified event develops | Weekly, until a final report |
| Six-monthly reports | Presence or absence of every WOAH-listed disease | Twice a year |
| Annual report | Animal populations and premises | Once a year |
WOAH published 804 immediate notifications and 5,873 follow-up reports in 2025 and says the number of events has risen steadily since 2020. A 24-hour clock is hard to meet when the facts of a case sit in a clinic system, a laboratory system and a spreadsheet.
Antimicrobial use: the other yearly report
WOAH also collects data every year on antimicrobial agents intended for use in animals. Since September 2022 the data go into ANIMUSE, its global database. For its ninth report, 107 participants reported quantities for 2022, and WOAH estimated the total at 70,648 tonnes, based in most cases on sales and import data.
Between 2020 and 2022, use fell from 102 mg to 97 mg per kg of animal biomass, a reduction of about 5%. A system that records every prescription and every pack dispensed can report use by antimicrobial class and by species, where sales and import data only give a national total.
What to require from a system
- One record per animal and holding, shared by clinics, field teams, the pharmacy, the laboratory and epidemiologists.
- A laboratory information management system (LIMS) on the same record, so a verified result reaches the veterinarian and can open a disease case.
- Disease cases with tracing, control zones on a map and a history of every decision.
- Reports to WOAH prepared from case and outbreak records, with a person reviewing and submitting each one.
- Prescribing and dispensing rules for antimicrobials, and use reported by class and species.
- A field app that works offline, reads tags and records locations.
- Arabic and English, hosting inside the country, single sign-on and a full audit trail.
- Documented interfaces to the animal registry, finance, the government services portal, laboratory analysers and imaging.
Questions to ask a supplier
- Can you show one case from a field suspicion to a WOAH notification ready to submit?
- Which parts are product and which will be written for us, and who owns each?
- Where is the data stored, and can the system run on our own servers?
- How do laboratory analysers and our existing systems connect, and who tests each interface?
- What happens to our existing records, and how is the migration checked?
- How is the system licensed: by user, by facility or for the whole authority?
Questions and answers
What is an animal health information system?
It is the software a veterinary authority uses to record animals and holdings, veterinary care, medicines, laboratory results and disease events, and to report on them nationally and to WOAH.
What is WAHIS?
WAHIS, the World Animal Health Information System, is WOAH’s platform for the official notification and publication of animal health information submitted by its members.
How fast must an exceptional disease event be reported to WOAH?
An immediate notification is due within 24 hours of confirmation, for example for the first occurrence of a listed disease in a country or zone. Weekly follow-up reports continue until a final report.
What is ANIMUSE?
ANIMUSE is WOAH’s global database on antimicrobial agents intended for use in animals. National animal health authorities report to it each year.
Is a veterinary management system the same thing?
Not quite. A veterinary management system covers clinics and field services. An animal health information system adds the laboratory, disease surveillance, outbreak response and national reporting. Some platforms, including Baytar from Birbal AI, cover both.
Sources
- WOAH: Terrestrial Animal Health Code, Chapter 1.1, Notification of diseases and provision of epidemiological information (2024)
- WOAH Asia and the Pacific: Disease reporting (what to report, when and where)
- WOAH: Animal Health Situation Worldwide, 93rd General Session (2026)
- WOAH: Annual Report on Antimicrobial Agents Intended for Use in Animals, 9th Report (2025)
- WOAH: Less antimicrobial use in animals: a win for everyone
Birbal AI is an independent company based in Abu Dhabi. Facts about third parties come from the sources above; check them for the latest position.