Global animal health is ‘chronically underfunded’

Global animal health systems are being left “chronically underfunded”, increasing the risk of wider and more severe disease outbreaks, a new report has warned.

The World Organisation for Animal Health’s (WOAH) assessment came after it was claimed that UK veterinary infrastructure had been allowed to deteriorate amid a focus on “low-value inspection activity”.

Defra officials have insisted they value public health provision, though they refused to be drawn on suggestions a key agency had been rendered “increasingly ineffective” by a lack of investment.

‘Dangerously exposed’

But WOAH argued the world was being left “dangerously exposed” to disease and pandemic threats, as well as food insecurity, in its latest State of the World’s Animal Health report.

The document, published on 13 May, estimated that just 0.6% of global health spending is focused on animals, despite the known costs of major disease outbreaks.

Based on an assessment of 54 nations and territories, it argued an average 52% funding increase was necessary to meet the cost of providing effective veterinary services.

But while the total global cost of that was estimated at around $2.3 billion a year, the report claimed that equated to just 0.05% of the economic losses linked to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Aspiration

WOAH director general Emmanuelle Souberyan said: “Animal health systems sit at the very centre of food security, economic stability, welfare and human health, and yet are chronically underfunded.

“One health will remain an aspiration until animal health is genuinely built into how we plan and invest – long before the next crisis arrives.”

The comments follow a fierce attack on the state of UK veterinary infrastructure during the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers’ (AIMS) recent conference in London.

Political concerns

Political concerns have persisted for some time, particularly relating to the funding of planned redevelopment at the APHA’s Weybridge headquarters.

But AIMS executive director Jason Aldiss claimed the current framework posed “a real and present risk to the resilience of our food system”.

He said: “The Animal and Plant Health Agency – once a cornerstone of disease surveillance and response – is now under-resourced, overstretched and increasingly ineffective.

“State veterinary laboratories – critical to our diagnostic capability – are, in many cases, in a woeful state of repair.

“While we expend vast sums on low-value inspection activity, we are simultaneously allowing the very systems that protect us from genuine threats to deteriorate.”

Vital services

Defra declined to respond directly to the claims, though a spokesperson said: “Access to quality veterinary care is important and we value the vital services that the veterinary workforce provides across the UK, including for the meat industry.”

The department also argued a reformed Veterinary Surgeons Act would “uphold modern animal health and welfare standards”, claiming proposals would be presented when parliamentary time allows.

But Dr Aldiss also claimed current inspection protocols were often no longer “scientifically defensible” and described the cost of export certification to the EU, estimated to be around £60 million a year, as the recording of standards the industry already met.

He added: “This is not a system designed around epidemiological risk. It is a system designed around politics optics. And the industry is paying for it.”