The Global Burden of Animal Diseases (GBADs) programme is pleased to release its first technical guide detailing the methods it uses to understand the economic burden of diseases in livestock and aquatic species. The GBADs Technical Guide v1 covers the five key methodologies currently used in GBADs analyses. These are:
Livestock biomass
Methods to estimate the biomass of terrestrial livestock species. These can be used as a denominator for comparing disease burdens, livestock value, antimicrobial use and much more.
The economic value of farmed animals
Outlines a framework within which farmed animals can be valued and GBADs methods to calculate the economic value of farmed animals and their outputs. Knowing the economic value of farmed animals is crucial for making informed decisions about disease management and investments in livestock health.
The ‘Animal Health Loss Envelope’
The Animal Health Loss Envelope (AHLE) is a new GBADs metric to assess the overall loss in production and animals, due to disease. It is calculated by comparing the value and expenditure of farmed animal production under current animal health conditions versus an ideal state of health. The AHLE create a boundary when assessing farm animal disease burdens.
Attribution to specific causes
Losses can be attributed by general and specific causes to understand which diseases impose the greatest absolute and relative burdens. The methods presented allow attribution by specific causes and outlines how to deal with comorbidity (where animals are affected by more than one cause at a time) to prevent over-estimation of losses.
The wider economic impact of animal disease burdens
The wider economic impact introduces the economic models used by the GBADs programme to understand how overall economic activity is affected by farmed animal disease burdens and who across the economy is affected.
If you are interested in downloading our Technical Guide v1, please complete the short survey here for instant access.
The GBADs Technical Guide is a living document that will evolve as current GBADs methods are refined, and new methods developed.
We would like to thank the University of Liverpool and WOAH for their leadership and support to make this Guide come to life.
The GBADs Technical Guide is based on research funded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The findings and conclusions contained within are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect positions or policies of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and FCDO. We would also like to thank all the authors and co-authors for their tirelessly work on each chapter and the reviewers of each chapter.
If you have any questions relating to the Guide, please contact gbads@liverpool.ac.uk