Every year, disease destroys more than 20% of global animal production. It’s a sobering thought, and these losses lead to higher food prices, disrupted trade and weakened livelihoods. And, of course, animal diseases are not only an economic threat, they also threaten human health. Seventy-five percent of emerging infectious diseases in humans originate in animals.
Funding gap
In the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)’s review of the animal health landscape, The State of the World’s Animal Health 2026, the organization notes that the systems designed to prevent crises – animal disease surveillance, veterinary workforces, vaccination programs and laboratory capacity – receive less than 0.6% of global health spending. Less than US$1 billion a year in development aid reaches veterinary aid and zoonotic disease prevention.
Animal health continues to rank far too low on the list of global priorities and to illustrate to folly of this WOAH points to the costs of the COVID-19 pandemic, which, it says, caused US$13.8 trillion in economic damage. Bringing veterinary standards worldwide up to international standards would cost approximately US$3.2 billion per year – less than 0.5% of what COVID-19 cost in a single year.
First line of defense
While raising veterinary standards brings a variety of benefits, continuing with the theme of pandemics, particularly prevention, WOAH points out that for the period covered in its report, there were 2,000 outbreaks of avian influenza. No sustained human-to-human transmission has been confirmed, but every week of underinvestment in surveillance and preparedness narrows the margin. Strong animal health systems are the earliest line of defense.
WOAH argues that the case for investment in veterinary services is clear and it is one of the most effective economic decisions any country can make. Studies have shown returns on investment of up to 86% per year, placing animal health among the most productive investments society can make.
The report offers a very simple, straightforward example. Rabies, it notes, results in the death of an estimated 59,000 people each year, and this is almost entirely preventable. Ninety-nine percent of cases come from dog bites, and to vaccinate a dog costs only a few dollars. Human post-exposure treatment averages more than US$100 per person. Acting upstream in animals is consistently cheaper and more effective than treating people downstream.
Turning to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the report warns that it could cause more than 39 million deaths by 2050 and result in losses in animal production of US$953 billion. Yet animal vaccines receive only US$0.07 of every US$10 spent on AMR-related research.
The evidence all points to the same conclusion, the WOAH warns: The cost of inaction is already being paid. Addressing this is a shared responsibility, as no government can manage transboundary disease risk alone and no sector can absorb the costs in isolation. There must be a genuine recognition of animal health as a public good, and what is needed now is the commitment to act, before the next crisis makes the case for us.
