December 11, 2006	Monday	Ziqa'ad 19, 1427

THE importance of financial evaluations in livestock enterprises has been partly responsible for the increased application of economic techniques to animal disease control at farm and at national levels.

In Pakistan, the principle of ‘veterinary economics’ (animal health economics) has emerged as an specific area of interest in veterinary medicine since late 1980’s. Economic assessment is an integral part of many epidemiological investigations, providing a complementary perspective to biological (i.e., technical) studies the veterinarians are familiar with because of their professional training.

The traditional role of a veterinarian is to attend sick animals when requested: such attention has been called ‘fire brigade’ treatment. This approach was useful when most diseases, such as the classical epidemic infection, had a predominantly single cause and responded to a single course of treatment.

However, the multi-factorial nature of many diseases, which coincided with the intensification of animal industry, with a relative decrease in the value of animals, resulted in a change in attitude towards the management of diseases in individual livestock units. First, it becomes clear that diseases need to be controlled by manipulating all determinants simultaneously; those associated with agent, host and environment. The veterinarians, objective should be to prevent, rather than to treat, disease. Second, it becomes necessary to consider disease in terms of its contribution to reduced performance (and therefore profitability) of a herd.

Other factors have also increased veterinary interest in economics. Government veterinary services are increasingly required to justify budgets for disease control. The diseases of farm livestock are barriers to international trade .

Animal disease has economic, as well as biological, impacts because it affects the well-being of people.

Generally, disease in domesticated livestock populations reduces the quantity and/or quality of livestock products available for human consumption. Examples of such products range from meat and milk to pony rides and companionship of pets. To be precise, disease increases expenditures (production costs) and decreases output (consumer benefits).

The relationship between the resources that provide the inputs to production and the goods and services that comprise the output is called a production and the goods and services that comprise the output is called a production function. The resources may be natural (e.g., land and mineral deposits) or man-made (e.g., buildings and machinery). Frequently, these undergo physical transformation (e.g., iron ore into steel, animal feed into body protein) or else facilitate a physical transformation process (e.g., manpower and managerial expertise).

The incidence of disease that is acceptable from an economic point of view may well change with relative prices and techniques of production.

Livestock production is a specific example of a physical transformation process. Disease impairs this process (i.e., reduces output) and sometimes results in death. Thus, there is a loss of efficiency which poses both technical and economic problems.

If restoration of technical efficiency is the goal, the corresponding economic objective is to find the least-cost method to restore health and productivity.

The total economic cost of disease can be measured as the sum of output losses and expenditures control. A reduction in output is a loss because it is a benefit that is either taken away (e.g., when milk containing antibiotic residues is compulsorily discarded) or unrealised (e.g., decreased milk yield). Expenditures, in contrast, are increases in input, and are usually associated with disease control. Examples of control expenditures are veterinary intervention and increased use of agricultural labour, both of which may be used either therapeutically or prophylactically. The economic costs are more than just the sum of financial outlays, and it is important not to confuse the two.

Several trends are emerging in relation to the services that the veterinarian supplies to his clients, and to national and international disease reporting. Diseases of food animals are also being considered directly in relation to their effect on production. Reduced the contribution of genetic and environmental factors is appreciated.

There is a requirement for improved disease reporting systems at the national level to identify problems, define research and priorities and assist in the prevention of spread of infectious agents. The advent of low-cost computing following the microelectronic revolution offers powerful means of storing, analysing and distributing data. Information can be transported rapidly using modern communications systems. These developments increase the scope for efficient disease reporting and analysis of the many factors that contribute to clinical disease and suboptimal production, both of which require increased statistical acumen among veterinarians. Epidemiology has developed to supply these contemporary veterinary requirements. Additionally, residues need to be identified and eliminated. This includes contamination of meat by pesticides and hormones as well as the more long-standing issue of antibiotic residues.

The effect of diseases on production can be realistically estimated only in relation to decreased production in the herd of flock rather than in a single animal. The economic impacts of disease and of attempts at its control similarly are evaluated best in groups of animals.

Veterinarians practicing in the livestock sector continue to control and treat disease in individual animals. Developments in molecular biology are improving diagnostic procedures, and offer new opportunities for vaccine production. Additionally, the multi-factorial nature of many diseases necessitates modification of the environment of the animal and management practices, rather than concentrating exclusively on infectious agents.