SummaryThe delivery of veterinary services in most of sub-Saharan Africa has undergonesubstantial changes, with the private sector gaining increasing recognition as analternative to state provision. Given this policy shift, the authors argue that abetter understanding of the behaviour and decision-making processes of smallscale farmers in animal health management is urgently required, to guide policydecisions regarding the delivery of animal health services. Whether theinvolvement of the private sector will improve overall efficiency in the delivery ofveterinary services will depend greatly on the demand response of livestockproducers who must make decisions about the health of livestock.The authors briefly review the decision-making process in small-scale farmingsystems, the economic nature of animal diseases and disease control and themodels that have been used to guide resource allocation for disease control. Togain an improved understanding of the behaviour and decision-making processesof small-scale farmers, the authors propose a conceptual model includingvariables that relate to characteristics specific to small-scale farmers and farms,economic factors, institutional setting and biophysical factors. Two possibleapproaches are proposed for the economic analysis. Agricultural householdmodelling allows the derivation and testing of hypotheses regarding the demandelasticities for veterinary services, while qualitative choice models are bettersuited to the analysis of determinants behind the choices of farmers. The authorsconclude that an urgent need exists for empirical research in this area.a

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