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REVIEW article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1476505
This article is part of the Research Topic Estimating Non-Monetary Societal Burden of Livestock Disease Management View all 7 articles

A framework for quantifying the multisectoral burden of animal disease to support decision making

Provisionally accepted
Sara Lysholm Sara Lysholm 1,2Gemma L Chaters Gemma L Chaters 3,4Carlotta Di Bari Carlotta Di Bari 5,6Ellen Clare Hughes Ellen Clare Hughes 7,8Ben Huntington Ben Huntington 7,8Jonathan Rushton Jonathan Rushton 7,8Lian Thomas Lian Thomas 2*
  • 1 Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
  • 2 Animal and Human Health Program, Department of Biosciences, International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya
  • 3 Centre for Health Informatics, Computing and Statistics, Lancaster Medical School, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, United Kingdom
  • 4 Lancaster Medical School, University of Lancaster, Lancaster, United Kingdom
  • 5 Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Sciensano, Brussels, Belgium
  • 6 Department of Translational Physiology, Infectiology and Public Health, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium
  • 7 Global Burden of Animal Diseases (GBADs) Programme, Liverpool, United Kingdom
  • 8 Department of Livestock and One Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Animal diseases have wide-ranging impacts in multiple societal arenas, including agriculture, public health and the environment. These diseases cause significant economic losses for farmers, disrupt food security and present zoonotic risks to human populations. Additionally, they contribute to antimicrobial resistance and a range of environmental issues such as greenhouse gas emissions. The societal and ecological costs of livestock diseases are frequently underrepresented or unaddressed in policy decisions and resource allocations. Social cost-benefit analysis (SCBA) offers a comprehensive framework to evaluate the broad impacts of animal diseases across different sectors. This approach aligns with the One Health concept, which seeks to integrate and optimize the health of humans, animals and the environment. Traditional economic evaluations often focus narrowly on profit maximization within the livestock sector, neglecting wider externalities such as public health and environmental impacts. In contrast, SCBA takes a multi-sectoral whole-system view, considering multiple factors to guide public and private sector investments toward maximizing societal benefits. This paper discusses three separate sector specific (Animal health, Human health, Environmental health) methodologies for quantifying the burden of animal diseases. It then discusses how these estimates can be combined to generate multisectoral estimates of the impacts of animal diseases on human societies and the environment using monetary values. Finally this paper explores how this framework can support the evaluation of interventions from a One Health perspective though SCBA. This integrated assessment framework supports informed decision-making and resource allocation, ultimately contributing to improved public health outcomes, enhanced animal welfare, and greater environmental sustainability.

    Keywords: SL: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Project Administration, Writingoriginal draft, GLC: Conceptualization, Writingoriginal draft, DCB: Writingoriginal draft, ECH: Writingreview & editing, BH: Conceptualization, Writingreview & editing, JR: Conceptualization, Writingreview & editing, LT: Conceptualization, Visualization, Writingoriginal draft 11. Funding

    Received: 05 Aug 2024; Accepted: 07 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Lysholm, Chaters, Di Bari, Hughes, Huntington, Rushton and Thomas. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Lian Thomas, Animal and Human Health Program, Department of Biosciences, International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.