Download Animal Health Management Managing animal health for trade

Livestock Health, Management and Production › Animal Health Management › Managing animal health
for trade
Animal Health Management
Managing animal health for trade
Author: Dr Mary-Louise Penrith.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license.
INTRODUCTION
After completion of this module, students will be expected to understand how animal diseases influence
trade in livestock commodities and understand and explain the role of animal health managers in
supporting this trade. They should be able to apply the knowledge gained to formulate animal disease
control strategies that are functional and appropriate for the circumstances under which they will be
implemented, maintaining the focus on the objectives of animal health management and disease control.
Livestock commodities (i.e. fresh or frozen meat, fresh eggs and milk, raw hides and any other derivatives
that have not undergone further processing) including live animals are traded both nationally and
internationally. International trade in livestock commodities is covered in depth in a series of
dedicated modules. The focus of this module is the impact that animal diseases can have on trade at all
levels and the approaches to managing them to minimise their impact.
Fresh milk is a livestock commodity
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Livestock Health, Management and Production › Animal Health Management › Managing animal health
for trade
Fresh meat is a livestock commodity
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Livestock Health, Management and Production › Animal Health Management › Managing animal health
for trade
Animal health management for trade is concerned with ensuring that traded livestock and commodities
derived from livestock are safe in terms of transmission of diseases to animals and humans. It is also
concerned with supporting producers to ensure that there is a steady supply of healthy animals available
for trade, and is supported by both public and private veterinary service providers. Services can range
from primary animal health care and routine surveillance for controlled diseases to herd health
programmes aimed at optimising and monitoring health and production to ensure consistency of quality
as well as supply. Primary animal health care is often supplied, especially in remote rural areas, by
community-based animal health workers (CAHWs) trained and equipped to undertake basic activities like
parasite control, vaccination, and first aid for minor injuries and ailments. To an extent the level of animal
health service provision will depend on the demands and value of the market, but in the end it is the
responsibility of animal health managers to try to ensure that food of animal origin offered for sale for
human consumption is safe and wholesome, whether the food is destined for the highest priced export
markets or the next door neighbour.
To provide background for animal disease control in the context of trade in livestock, the first section
deals with trading of live animals and commodities derived from animals (as opposed to processed
products) insofar as it is affected by infectious diseases. More detail about marketing and trade is
provided in modules dedicated to the subject.
The second section considers approaches to controlling endemic and epidemic transboundary diseases
in the context of the country’s different production systems.
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