Our Reference Centres

A WOAH reference centre can be designated as:

• “WOAH Reference Laboratory” when its main mandate is to establish itself as a global reference centre of expertise for a specific pathogen or disease
• “Collaborating Centre of the WOAH” when its main mandate is to establish itself as a centre of global reference for research, standardization of techniques and dissemination of knowledge for a certain specialty

The network of Collaborating Centres and Reference Laboratories is at the core of our scientific expertise and excellence. The permanent contribution of these institutions to the work of the World Organisation for Animal Health guarantees the scientific relevance of the standards, guidelines and recommendations developed by the Specialized Commissions and published by the organisation.

Two or more reference centres can constitute a network of reference centres of the World Organisation for Animal Health, following the guidelines for the management of these networks.

At global level, efforts are underway to take advantage of our network of Collaborating Centres to provide specialised training support to our Member Countries as well as to develop new training mechanisms and platforms, including e-learning.

View the terms of reference and internal rules for WOAH Reference Centres