LISBON, Jul 9 2025 (IPS) - Just five years on from the Covid-19 pandemic, another animal-borne disease is mutating and spreading across borders and species.
Avian influenza has already resulted in the loss of more than 630 million birds in the last 20 years. And new figures from the inaugural State of the World’s Animal Health report find that the number of reported outbreaks in mammals, including cattle, sheep and cats, doubled last year compared to 2023.
The risk of human infection with avian flu remains low. But the more species of mammals become infected, the greater the possibility of the virus adapting to mammal-to-mammal – and potentially human – transmission. And recent experience has shown exactly how devastating and disruptive a zoonotic pandemic can be for all aspects of life.
After the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted a new pandemic accord at the 78th World Health Assembly, the global community must remember that animal vaccines can be one of our most powerful tools for preventing zoonotic disease outbreaks, alongside other control measures.
At present, many countries are unable to include vaccination within their avian flu control strategies because of its impact on trade, livelihoods and food security. The difficulty of distinguishing a vaccinated bird with immunity from an infected bird means widespread vaccination can result in damaging trade barriers.
But controlling avian flu in poultry stops it from spreading to other animals and people, and vaccination can play a highly effective role alongside other measures when integrated carefully.
For example, the Toulouse Veterinary School modelled that France would experience up to 700 avian flu outbreaks in 2023. But, according to the French Chief Veterinary Officer, a nationwide campaign to vaccinate ducks meant the country only suffered 10 outbreaks.
Key to this was transparency and dialogue, with the French authorities consulting regularly with the scientific community via the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES), veterinarians and researchers, local farmers and international trading partners.
For more countries to incorporate animal vaccination into avian flu control strategies and avert the risk of another pandemic, governments and agencies around the world must overcome a number of locally-specific barriers, which often hold back vaccination against other animal diseases.
First, governments must recognise animal health as an intrinsic part of global health and foster international cooperation for disease monitoring, data-sharing, early warning systems and harmonised vaccination approaches.
The more authorities know about how and where the disease is spreading, the greater the chance of containing it. And agreeing an approach to vaccination with trade partners to contain a specific outbreak, or to target wild animals as disease reservoirs, can limit the impact that disease control has on exports.
Secondly, the livestock sector would benefit enormously from the development and use of advanced diagnostic tools to differentiate between vaccinated and infected animals. Known as the DIVA principle, this will enable accurate disease tracking and trade transparency.
The ability to demonstrate that an animal is immune rather than infected would help overcome trade barriers to vaccination, but this requires greater public and private investment and collaboration.
Lastly, more investment is urgently needed for the use of vaccines as well as biosecurity measures, hygiene protocols and other disease prevention measures. Veterinary professionals need ongoing education and field training, in addition to the appropriate infrastructure, to ensure effective vaccine delivery and disease management at the grassroots level.
The return on investment from disease control spans both public and private sectors, supporting improved public health as well as agricultural productivity, trade and food security.
If Covid-19 taught the world anything, it is that global health is an interconnected system that includes animals of all kinds as well as environmental factors.
Tackling animal diseases through vaccination, biosecurity and other measures is as critical for animals as it is for people and pandemic prevention, and just like Covid-19, it needs global collaboration, innovation and investment.
Dr. Susana Pombo is President of the World Organisation for Animal Health’s Council
IPS UN Bureau
