In July 2023, Jonathan Rushton (University of Liverpool, UK), Mieghan Bruce (Murdoch University, Australia) and Yin Li (CSIRO, Australia) were invited to visit the China Animal Health and Epidemiology Centre (CAHEC) in Qingdao, China on behalf of the GBADs team. The delegation was warmly received by Dr Zhiliang Wang, deputy director general of CAHEC, followed by two days of discussions with the animal health economics work team led by Dr Xinjie Wei.

The Global Burden of Animal Disease (GBADs) programme was presented followed by presentations of the CAHEC work on the economics of animal health. Discussions followed on the synergies between GBADs and CAHEC on the estimations of animal disease burdens and the use of economics of animal health to support animal health decision making. The meeting concluded with the development of a joint workplan to initiate work on animal disease burdens in China. Dr Wei would like to join the monthly GBADs meetings and before the end of 2023 will present the economics of animal health work in China. There will also be exploration of work in China and an application for budget to support this.

Trust and great interest in collaboration were expressed from both sides during the visit. CAHEC believes that GBADs incorporates the most advanced technical frameworks in the field of animal health economics, and this new approach can avoid the issue of repetitive calculations in traditional methods for assessing the economic losses caused by animal diseases. The GBADs team understands that CAHEC is the leading animal health authority in China and it has been playing an important role in Asian regional animal health via its collaborating centres of FAO and WOAH.

After our meeting with CAHEC, we received the following comments from the team:

“The Global Animal Disease Burden Research Project, though still in its early stages, has a very promising start. It integrates the world’s finest veterinary epidemiological resources and incorporates the most advanced technical frameworks in the field of animal health economics. This new approach can avoid the issue of repetitive calculations in traditional methods for assessing the economic losses caused by animal diseases. It facilitates the comparison of animal disease burdens among different production systems and countries, thereby promoting optimized decisions and resource allocations for disease prevention. This project would support decision-making for governments in formulating health policies and distributing resources.”