Preventative measures

Considering the damage that can be caused by outbreaks of disease, taking measures to prevent this is definitely worth the investment.

“Outbreaks of viruses such as swine flu could cost the global economy between $3 trillion and $4.4 trillion”
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In the last issue of Next Generation Food we featured an article on the 2009 outbreak of swine flu that swept through 207 countries worldwide and killed 8768 people (as of November 29, 2009). In the article we looked at what needs to be done to prevent future outbreaks of zoonotic diseases such as the H1N1 virus from occurring in the first place.

Studies on various severe influenza pandemics have shown that outbreaks of viruses such as swine flu could cost the global economy between $3 trillion and $4.4 trillion. This is supported by the worst-case scenario figures for a possible flu pandemic unveiled by the World Bank last year, which predicted a cost of $3 trillion to the global economy or a 4.8 percent shrinkage.

Clearly preventing such outbreaks from occurring has to be in the interest of the global community. The European Union has indeed recognised this and on November 26, 2009, the European Commission adopted a financial package of €275 million to support programmes to monitor, control and eradicate animal diseases in 2010. The EU's generous contribution towards such programmes clearly reflects the high level of importance attached to disease eradication measures, for the protection of both animal and public health.

"The motto of our animal health strategy is 'prevention is better than cure'. If the spread of certain animal diseases is not prevented, it can affect both animal and public health. That is why we are prioritising programmes covering diseases that might be transmitted to humans," said EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou.

Each year the Commission approves programmes aimed at monitoring and eradicating zoonotic diseases. These approved programmes then receive financial contributions from the EU. For 2010, a total of 224 eradication, control and monitoring programmes for animal diseases and zoonoses have been approved.

In addition, 76 annual or multi-annual programmes to eradicate 10 important animal diseases have been granted Community financial support. The total EU contribution to these programmes is around €174m.

Diseases that can be transmitted to humans are being prioritised in 2010 with significant sums earmarked for the eradication of brucellosis, tuberculosis and rabies. In recent years, programmes that have been implemented in Western Europe have successfully served to virtually eradicated rabies and based on this, most of the activity in 2010 will be focused towards the Member States on the Eastern border of the EU, who will be allocated €12m of the budget.

The budget has been increased for 2010 mainly due to allocations to counter Bluetongue disease in many Member States and the approval for the first time of a Bovine Tuberculosis eradication programme for the UK. The EU will be providing €12m in funding for Ireland, €10m for the UK and €7.5m for Spain to go towards TB programmes.

A financial contribution of €26m has also been allocated to control zoonotic salmonella in poultry and turkey flocks in 25 Member States. Surveillance for avian influenza in poultry and wild birds will also continue in 2010 with financial assistance from the EU towards laboratory testing and wild birds sampling costs. The Member States will benefit from more than €4m for this purpose.

The consequences of zoonotic pandemics, both in economic terms and in terms of animal and human casualties, can be particularly devastating as we have seen. Prevention may well be costly, but at least we have realised that we can no longer afford not to give the surveillance, prevention and eradication of zoonotic diseases the attention and financial resources it deserves.