Professor Andy Peters, SEBI-Livestock program director, discusses livestock health and its relationship with contagious diseases.
To recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and build resilience to other zoonotic diseases, policy-makers need more data about animal health as it relates to our own. The current gaps in data create challenges in maintaining human health on a global scale, as more than 60% of emerging infectious diseases in humans originated in animals. Addressing the holes in our scientific knowledge will therefore be crucial to help prevent future outbreaks. It can also minimise the direct and indirect consequences of disease outbreaks on health, livelihoods, and economies.
Header image: A pastoralist herds goats in Borana Ethiopia. Photo: Z Sewunet (ILRI) (source)