Prevention and control of animal diseases worldwide

Report for the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE), October 2007

Agra CEAS has been responsible for part 1 and has also participated in part 2 of this 3-part study for the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE). Part 1 ( Economic analysis: Prevention versus outbreak costs) assessed the e conomic impact of diseases and carried out a cost-benefit analysis of improved veterinary preparedness for disease prevention and rapid control, particularly for developing and transition countries. The analysis concentrated on the costs of prevention and control versus the costs of a disease in the event of an outbreak, with a focus on 2 transboundary animal diseases of current worldwide relevance, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). The project involved an extensive and detailed review of some 300 items of available literature on this subject, data collection from desk research as well as contacts and interviews with relevant organisations, and 4 case studies in representative countries (Romania, Vietnam, Nigeria and Argentina). For the purposes of this project Agra CEAS built a model to estimate the worldwide impact of HPAI, distinguishing between the different types of costs involved (direct production costs and losses, and indirect effects in terms of ripple, spill-over and wider society impact). It then compared these with available estimates of investing in improved prevention and control for HPAI, concluding that the required investment was only a fraction of the potential costs of an outbreak. The conclusions and estimates from this analysis fed into Parts 2 and 3 of the study. Part 2 examined the feasibility of setting up a global emergency response fund for animal epizootics and zoonoses in developing and transition countries and part 3 examined the feasibility of supporting the insurance of disease losses.

Results  were presented at the World Bank/OIE/FAO Conference “Global Animal Health Initiative: The Way Forward” in Washington in October 2007.

The report is available for download here