The Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital (OVAH) is a flagship training platform of the Faculty of Veterinary Science - the only veterinary school in South Africa - training and preparing veterinary and veterinary nursing students for their future careers.
Educating communities on basic animal welfare is critical. It lays the foundation for better cooperation from communities to actively prevent disease through vaccination and parasite control and to reduce overpopulation of animals through sterilisation. To achieve this, the Faculty runs full-time and weekly mobile community animal health clinics. Veterinary services are provided to subsistence farmers who cannot always afford professional advice or certain treatments. Students are also involved in the sterilisation of animals (under supervision), many of which are done at little or no cost to the owner.