Better lives through livestock
Perspectives on livestock and One
Health
Jimmy Smith
Director General, International Livestock Research Institute
TropAg Symposium 4.4: One Health from a livestock view
01 November 2022
I acknowledge the Traditional Owners and their custodianship of the lands on which we meet today and
pay my respect to their Ancestors and their descendants.

2
One Health High Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP):
definition of One Health
‘….One Health is an integrated, unifying approach that aims to
sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals and
ecosystems.
It recognizes the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants,
and the wider environment (including ecosystems) are closely linked
and inter-dependent….’
https://www.who.int/news/item/01-12-2021-tripartite-and-unep-support-ohhlep-s-definition-of-one-health

3
Saving trillions of USD and billions of lives requires a
One Health approach ZOONOSES(…covid…)
Over 6 million (17
million?)
?USD 20 trillion ++
(who knows!)
FOOD SAFETY
0.5 billion
USD110 billion
ANTI-MICROBIAL RESISTANCE
0.7 billion
USD3.5 trillion

4
Food Safety
• Essential:
• Food and nutrition security
• Equity
• Environment
• 70% of milk, meat, eggs in developing
countries sold and purchased
in informal / traditional markets
– essential for the poorest
• Big opportunities to make food safer
without banning such markets
• Solutions NOT get rid of such markets
but to make them safer.
• Solutions that are simple, affordable,
easy

5
Anti-microbial resistance

6
AMR

7
Zoonoses

Redefined by COVID-19
BUT……………..

8
Zoonoses – with pandemic potential are increasing
ESSENTIAL TO ACT: A combination of greater fatality and greater
transmissibility would be fatal

9
Big opportunities exist to reduce the threat of pandemic disease
events via livestock interventions
Better animal disease surveillance, ‘One-Health’ and ‘herd health’ could save billions of dollars by
stopping disease outbreaks in animals rather than people
A decade ago it was estimated that global investment of USD25 billion over 10 years in One Health work
would generate benefits worth at least USD125 billion….we know that was a huge under-estimate

10
Surveillance is key
Environment
Animal
Human
Data collection and connection
Incentives – not penalties for reporting
From farm to community to country

11
Institutional architecture
Environme
nt
Animal
Human
Government AND science collaboration
………..‘GAVI for pandemics’………?

12
One Health
PANDEMIC
PREVENTION
Coordinated
surveillance, detection
and response
FOOD SAFETY
Opportunities to provide
enabling regulatory
environments, training, simple
technologies and incentives to
adopt food safety practices
ANTI-MICROBIAL
RESISTANCE
Develop integrated
approaches to understand the
opportunities for mitigation
without jeopardizing
livelihoods and production
RESPONSE
THROUGH…
Institutional coordination
and action at every level
for animal, human and
environment health
Integral to improving food and nutrition security

THANK YOU