AnimalhealthEurope is disappointed to see the role of the animal health sector not clearly defined in the Commission’s recently published Medical Countermeasures Strategy.

While the strategy mentions the One Health approach on several occasions it is unclear if it truly takes into consideration the role of the animal health sector in protecting human health.

There is a critical need to enhance prevention and early detection of animal disease to break the transmission cycle to human populations. So, the strategy should encompass a clearly defined One Health approach that includes both human and animal health measures, ensuring that policies are pre-emptive rather than reactive, addressing the root causes of zoonotic diseases.

“Although the strategy refers to ‘stimulating and fostering innovation in the area of medical countermeasures, as well as their development, production and availability by following a One Health and full value chain approach to ensure a comprehensive and complete end-to-end approach’, the strategic role for veterinary medicines and their continued availability in the context of EU preparedness and health security is not clearly recognised.

We very much welcome the development of public-private emergency protocols to ensure the swift development and availability of medical countermeasures in case of emergencies, and repeat again our call for joint stress tests, simulation exercises and a regular dialogue with the authorities, as outlined by the World Organisation for Animal Health,(recommendation 11) to ensure vaccine production capacity and use in the animal health sector”, commented Roxane Feller, AnimalhealthEurope Secretary General.

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Notes for editors:

• See also the event report from our recent conference Preventing Disease X: the value of investing in animal health for further information.