Introduction

One Health Brief

Livestock pathways to 2030:
One Health Brief

One Health is an integrated, unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals and ecosystems.

This brief recommends livestock-related policies and actions that are able to significantly improve the health of people, animals and environments through One Health approaches. The actions recommended here, with their multiple cross-sector benefits, emerged from a 2021 investigation by ILRI of One Health challenges in the world’s low- and middle-income countries that are best addressed through interventions in the livestock sector.

Livestock investments to transform and scale One Health

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Investment opportunities #onlyONEhealth

Core One Health

Supporting One Health

Examples of livestock-based interventions in developing countries in the areas of zoonotic disease, antimicrobial resistance and food safety

Invest in integrated human and animal surveillance, vaccines and decision-making tools.

Invest in integrated human and animal surveillance, vaccines and decision-making tools.

Use of disease-control methods and decision-making tools stop the spread of emerging infectious zoonotic diseases (e.g. Rift Valley fever, Japanese encephalitis, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever) and reduce the heavy burden of neglected endemic zoonotic diseases (e.g. brucellosis, cysticercosis, echinococcosis) in developing countries

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Invest in vaccines and diagnostics to prevent diseases transmitted between animals and humans.

Invest in vaccines and diagnostics to prevent diseases transmitted between animals and humans.

Wider use of livestock vaccines, which obviates the need for antibiotic treatments to cure livestock diseases, limits the development of antimicrobial resistance in pathogens, thereby protecting human as well as animal health.

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Invest in early detection of emerging zoonotic disease, e.g. monkeypox, COVID-19, SARS.

Invest in early detection of emerging zoonotic disease, e.g. monkeypox, COVID-19, SARS.

Emerging zoonotic disease are found in animals (wildlife) and controlled in livestock populations before they can jump to humans and before they can grow into pandemics, saving the global economy trillions of dollars.

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Invest in understanding what drives the spread of livestock-mediated endemic deseases.

Invest in understanding what drives the spread of livestock-mediated endemic deseases.

The enormous health risk to animals and people alike is significantly reduced, cutting human illnesses and deaths and saving trillions of dollars in control of zoonoses that spread to become epidemic or pandemic.

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Invest in systems that control soil-transmitted helminth infections.

Invest in systems that control soil-transmitted helminth infections.

Intestinal worms (hookworms, whipworms, roundworms) that are transmitted to humans through soils contaminated by the eggs or larvae of human- or animal-specific parasitic worms are controlled and the numbers of children nutritionally and physically impaired by these infections are greatly reduced.

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Invest in rational and fair use of antibiotics and other antimicrobials in livestock farming

Invest in rational and fair use of antibiotics and other antimicrobials in livestock farming

The spread of antimicrobial resistance in pathogens is curbed, protecting the health and lives of millions of people and animals by prolonging the use of effective antibiotic and other antimicrobial drugs.

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Invest in control of pathogens that cause foodborne diseases.

Invest in control of pathogens that cause foodborne diseases.

Use of livestock vaccines and other livestock disease control methods reduces the presence of foodborne pathogens in livestock and thereby reduces people’s risk of consuming contaminated foods.

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Invest in food safety in informal and traditional markets.

Invest in food safety in informal and traditional markets.

Focusing on informal markets, which benefit the poor, represents a shift from food safety investments that have focused in the past on formal and export markets, where safer food mainly reduces health risks to richer people.

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Invest in integrating One Health approach at policy and regulatory levels.

Invest in integrating One Health approach at policy and regulatory levels.

Cross-sectoral approaches at all levels of government (national, state, district) are mandated and funded. One Health task forces or centres, multi-sectoral surveillance and early warning mechanisms, and rapid response operating procedures and capacities are established. One Health assessments are conducted in advance of all relevant policies and investments. Political and public awareness of One Health issues and importance is raised. Health training and education programs present a holistic understanding of ‘health’ and incorporate One Health approaches.

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Invest in raising awareness of the 'win-win' value of maintaining livestock welfare.

Invest in raising awareness of the 'win-win' value of maintaining livestock welfare.

Better-cared-for farm animals—those provided proper housing, feeding, watering and veterinary services—have longer and more productive lives, produce safer and higher quality foods and safeguard national economies from trade restrictions and bans.

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Invest in evaluating how much greenhouse gas is produced by small livestock farms.

Invest in evaluating how much greenhouse gas is produced by small livestock farms.

The climate benefits and hazards of livestock-keeping are reliably accounted for, enabling countries to incentivize livestock keepers to minimize their livestock greenhouse gas emissions while also enabling them to reap rewards for capturing carbon in their soils.

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Invest in smarter feeding that uses local forages, crop wastes and other feedstuffs inedible by humans.

Invest in smarter feeding that uses local forages, crop wastes and other feedstuffs inedible by humans.

Better livestock feeds raise livestock production yields of farmers while reducing the greenhouse gas ‘intensity’ of their cattle, sheep and goats (less gas is emitted per unit of milk or meat produced). New cultivars of so-called ‘all-purpose crops’ such as sweet sorghum yield food for people (via grains), feed for ruminants (via stover) and feed for soils (via nitrogen). Making use of cassava peels for livestock feed nourishes farm animals while reducing environmental waste.

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Invest in 'mixed' farming systems which grow crops as well as raise animals.

Invest in 'mixed' farming systems which grow crops as well as raise animals.

Mixed crop-and-livestock farms become ‘regenerative’ as well as profitable, with nutrients and other resources recycled, with waste minimized (e.g. crop wastes feed the animals and animal manure feeds the crop soils) and with wildlife habitats and biodiversity protected.

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Invest in making both human and animal health services available in pastoralist areas.

Invest in making both human and animal health services available in pastoralist areas.

Hard-to-reach pastoralist communities are now included in health care models, and mobile healthcare options targeting both humans and animals increase the uptake of health services in both sectors.

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Invest in participatory rangeland management, local governance training and livestock route mapping.

Invest in participatory rangeland management, local governance training and livestock route mapping.

Dryland pastoral communities build stronger resilience against climate, economic and other shocks and continue to serve as stewards of their environments. The productivity and health of the world’s vast rangelands are both improved. And with vulnerable communities, service providers and governmental institutions participating jointly in every stage of a project, communities can better cope with environmental threats and can better protect their natural resources.

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Invest in vaccines against neglected livestock diseases which can reduce antibiotic use.

Invest in vaccines against neglected livestock diseases which can reduce antibiotic use.

Thermotolerant vaccines against ‘goat plague’ (peste des petits ruminants) and other neglected diseases protect livelihoods in marginalized communities. Broadened commercialization of vaccines against East Coast fever halves the amount of acaricides needed to control tick vectors, reducing land and water pollution. Broader use of vaccines against contagious caprine pleuropneumonia would reduce community use of antibiotics so contributing to the prevention of antimicrobial resistance.

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Invest in compost and biodigest animal and human waste for fertilizer and biogas.

Invest in compost and biodigest animal and human waste for fertilizer and biogas.

Animal and human excreta is managed for healthier people, animals and environments in developing countries, where the reuse and recycling of waste for agriculture is important and where sanitation systems are often deficient; the resultant waste is used to fertilize soils or is turned into biogas, saving resources (e.g. in the form of firewood) and reducing microbial contamination and thus risks to public health.

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Invest in information and services for livestock keepers that can help them protect their own health and the health of the animals.

Invest in information and services for livestock keepers that can help them protect their own health and the health of the animals.

Care-giving farmers improve animal welfare, increase household incomes, improve human nutrition and reduce transmission of zoonotic diseases from livestock to humans. Women are encouraged and empowered to become leaders and drivers of One Health by enhancing the health of their families, the care of their animal stock (including rational use of antimicrobial drugs) and the stewardship of their environments.

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Help us drive investment

We recommend 18 practical actions that governments, investors, policymakers and experts in One Health can promote and invest in for better health.

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Dig into the research
Livestock investments to transform and scale One Health
A transformative One Health agenda for livestock dependent communities
One Health briefs for governments, investors, experts and policymakers
Zoonotic diseases and how to break the chain of transmission
ILRI resources on One Health
CGIAR One Health Initiative

Get in touch

Learn more by contacting Dr. Ekta Patel, Bioscientist and One Health
communications manager (e.patel@cgiar.org)