AnimalhealthEurope held its annual conference on the theme of pandemic preparedness and the often overlooked role of animal health and veterinary services.

Director General of the World Organisation for Animal Health, Dr Emmanuelle Soubeyran kicked off the event with a reflection on disease prevention and preparedness post-Covid, highlighting that the pandemic response exposed gaps in both veterinary and human health systems. With less than half of WOAH member countries including veterinary services in emergency planning, she pointed out the need to raise the profile of the sector to convince decision-makers around the world that investing in animal health is of great importance, as animal disease not only impacts on food production and trade, but also on biodiversity and public health.

In a session titled ‘Breaking the chain: strengthening Europe’s preparedness for animal disease outbreaks’, veterinary attachés for France and Hungary to the EU, Davy Liger and Borbála Bende shared insights of how their respective countries managed outbreaks of avian influenza and foot-and-mouth disease. They both agreed that a more preventive approach to managing animal disease outbreaks is needed and echoed recent calls during Agriculture and Fisheries Council meetings (Oct. 2024, May 2025) for a coordinated approach to animal health, ensuring sufficient financing is available, access to vaccines is facilitated, and preventive vaccination allowed.

Addressing the One Health implications of disease outbreaks, Jean-Baptiste Perrin from the European Commission’s DG HERA, Margherita Gomarasca from Vétérinaires Sans Frontières, and Chris Walzer from the Wildlife Conservation Society discussed the need for better coordination at the animal-human-wildlife interface, with more integrated data sharing, and greater awareness-raising on the drivers behind disease spillovers.

A second panel saw Jonathan Rushton from GBADs (Global Burden of Animal Diseases), young farmer Emily Ashford, Esme Wheeler from Action for Animal Health, and AnimalhealthEurope President Rob Kelly, discuss the value of investing in animal health. Speakers agreed that more investment in preparedness in terms of animal disease management and veterinary capacity is needed. There was also agreement around the need to look at the impacts of animal disease outbreaks not just from an economic viewpoint, but also from a societal perspective.

Bringing a heartbreaking dose of real-world experience to the conference, young farmer Emily Ashford from the UK shared her story of the multiple losses she has experienced due to cases of bovine tuberculosis being detected on her farm since Spring 2022. With 131 cows lost to the disease so far, including many maternal lines, Emily spoke not just of the animal and financial losses, but also of milk potential lost, market access impacts and reputation damage, as well as breakdowns in personal relationships and mental health challenges.

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