Monitoring of equine health in Denmark: a survey of the attitudes and concerns of potential database participants.

ABSTRACT

At present Denmark has no central database holding records of equine health and disease. Nor have attitudes to the establishment of a national database, and the concerns it raises, been investigated in a systematic way. The objective of the present study was to assess the attitudes and concerns of potential database stakeholders. Attitudes to participation, and the location, financing and management of the proposed database, together with any concerns it raises, were investigated in a questionnaire study of 13 potential stakeholder groups in Denmark (in total, 1581 questionnaire recipients and 717 respondents) equine veterinarians, researchers, veterinary students, animal welfare organization representatives, horse owners, trainers, farriers, representatives from authorities, ordinary citizens, and representatives of laboratories, and insurance, medical equipment and pharmaceutical companies. Proportions were calculated for pre-categorised responses, and supplementary attitudes were extracted from qualitative responses. Eighty-six percent of respondents stated a positive interest in providing data for the database; the percentage for veterinarians was 90%. Data contribution was regarded as feasible by many of the stakeholder groups; this willingness to provide data, however, depended on the implementation of a very user-friendly system. Requirements included an electronic, simple, and time-efficient data reporting system. Most respondents felt the database should be financed via horse owners through mandatory contributions linked to each horse. Disagreement appeared to arise over data ownership, accessibility, and location. These and other issues need further elaboration in order to find a solution that is acceptable for all stakeholders. It may be advisable to collect and store data in more than one database.