Livestock Diseases
Prevention, Control and Compensation Schemes
This report is an overview of the management of risk due to livestock diseases, a
potentially catastrophic type of risk that can have strong external effects given
its links to the food chain and to human health. Animal disease, primarily in farmed
livestock, has long been a policy concern for food safety reasons and the high economic
losses it can engender. The globalisation of trade and human movement, and sensitivities
to food safety, enhance the relevance and complexity of disease control for terrestrial
livestock. Outbreaks – or even rumours of an outbreak – can result in widespread consumer
alarm, disruption of trade, and severe effects on incomes, not to mention the human
cost of illnesses and deaths arising from animal disease.
Published on August 21, 2012