One central message about animal health is becoming increasingly clear: disease prevention is not a cost, but an investment.

Recent outbreaks of animal diseases have exposed vulnerabilities in Europe’s livestock systems, with significant economic and social consequences. This sends a clear signal for closer integration between agricultural policy and animal health strategies at both EU and national levels.

Animal health is a cornerstone of sustainable agriculture, food security, public health, and rural prosperity. Over recent years, and more so in the past few years transboundary and emerging animal diseases have increased in frequency and impact, posing serious risks not only to animals themselves but also to Europe’s food systems, farming communities, loss of genetics, rare breeds and society at large. Investing strategically in animal health is therefore not optional – it is essential.

Less money, but more disease outbreaks…

Although the EU has taken important steps through the Animal Health Law (EU Regulation 2016/429) in providing a robust legal framework for managing transmissible animal diseases, it’s clear that legislation alone cannot shield Europe from the economic and social impacts of disease outbreaks.

Preventing disease is now widely recognised as more effective and more cost-efficient than treating it after it occurs. But effective preparedness, prevention, response, and recovery require strong and predictable financial mechanisms. Dwindling EU and national budgets, and a tightly squeezed budget for the Common Agricultural Policy don’t leave much room for additional funding requests.

An ambitious CAP budget is essential. Preventive animal health measures could be integrated into CAP instruments that go beyond pure agricultural production, such as the future protective practices, farm stewardship and agri-environmental and climate actions, similar to existing eco-schemes or second pillar measures. Additionally, when farmers choose to invest in better animal health, such investments should logically be compensated through public funding. Funding should also be made available for vaccination programmes, when and where vaccines are available for the diseases affecting a given region or Member State.

Beyond prevention, Europe must also strengthen its capacity to respond to and recover from animal disease outbreaks. This includes increasing the budget of the Agricultural Reserve Fund, improving EU-wide preparedness through additional antigen, vaccine, and diagnostic reagent banks as foreseen in the Animal Health Law, and ensuring that response and recovery measures are applied consistently across all Member States.

Despite the existing public funding mechanisms, money is scarce, so there is also a strong case for a dedicated, harmonised EU Public-Private funding mechanism for the prevention and management of animal diseases, as already envisaged in the former EU Animal Health Strategy 2007–2013. Such an initiative would go a long way to help future-proof Europe against growing animal disease risks.

Recognising the wide-ranging impacts of animal disease is essential

Animal diseases with high morbidity or mortality have immediate and devastating effects on livestock, but their consequences extend far beyond the farm gate. Disease outbreaks threaten the availability and affordability of food and undermine the socio-economic future of farming communities.

An often-unrecognised impact of such outbreaks is the devastating effect on farmers’ mental health. Studies have shown that the tasks associated with disease management, such as quarantining, deciding which animals to cull, disposing of the dead livestock, etc. not only takes considerable time and money, but can be extremely stressful and cause a strain on relationships. This is why the EU needs to take a prevention-first approach, and why legislation needs to be backed by investment.

Multiple policy benefits

Investing in animal health delivers benefits across several key EU policy objectives:

• Environmental protection and climate action: Preventing animal disease reduces animal mortality and improves productivity, ensuring that food is not lost and wasted at the farm level. It also ensures that resources and inputs invested are not wasted, and that emissions produced by livestock production are not generated for no output.

• Animal health and welfare, and reduced antibiotic use: Animal disease prevention is a core element of good health, and good health is a core component of animal welfare. Healthier animals will also have a reduced need for antibiotics to be used during their lifetime, helping to support the continued efficacy of these life-saving medicines.

• Modernisation and innovation: Digital monitoring tools and data-driven animal health management can support more efficient, modern, and resilient farming practices – a key aspect of the EU Vision for Agriculture and Food.

• Farm competitiveness: Animal disease reduces productivity and causes losses that are rarely fully compensated, such as the loss of valuable breeding stock and years of genetic progress. Disease prevention helps protect farm viability and long-term competitiveness, supporting a sector that is more resilient to shocks.