The United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all Member States in 2015, serves as humanity’s shared blueprint for a prosperous future on a healthy planet. At its core lie the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), an urgent, universal call for action. These goals recognize that eradicating poverty and other deprivations must align seamlessly with strategies that improve health, enhance education, reduce inequality, and stimulate economic growth, all while confronting climate change and safeguarding our precious natural resources. Within this ambitious framework, the role of biologicals and robust biosecurity measures in animal health is not merely significant; it’s absolutely crucial.
Animal Health: A Cornerstone of Sustainable Production
The need for continuous improvement in the sustainability of livestock production necessitates better health for animals. It’s a fundamental principle: diseased or unhealthy animals directly increase livestock emissions and amplify the overall environmental footprint of animal agriculture. Sick animals need more feed and water, often with reduced efficiency. Furthermore, animal losses due to disease necessitate raising more animals to maintain food supplies, thereby escalating production-related emissions. Clearly, optimizing animal health plays a pivotal role in addressing the dual challenges of feeding a growing global population and mitigating climate change.
Healthy animals contribute profoundly to several key SDGs:
- SDG 1: No Poverty: Protecting animal health is a powerful catalyst for economic growth and poverty alleviation. Healthy animals directly boost farmer income by reducing the crippling economic burden of disease management—from treatment costs and lower productivity to outright animal losses. This improved productivity and profitability can lift farmers out of subsistence agriculture, delivering broader socio-economic benefits and strengthening rural economies.
- SDG 2: Zero Hunger: As our global population continues to expand, the imperative to feed more people in the coming decades becomes even more pressing. Fewer animals lost to disease translates directly into less food waste and a greater, more consistent supply of affordable, accessible, and wholesome milk, meat, and eggs. Vaccines are indispensable here, effectively preventing and controlling the spread of infectious diseases in livestock. Continuous advancements in biotechnology ensure the development of innovative and highly effective vaccines, underpinning our collective journey towards zero hunger and enhanced nutrition security.
- SDG 3: Good Health & Wellbeing: Animal vaccines have revolutionized modern veterinary medicine, not only by preventing infectious diseases in livestock but also by profoundly safeguarding public health. Healthier livestock means healthier people. This directly reduces the risk of zoonotic disease transfer—diseases that spread from animals to humans, such as rabies—and significantly curbs the development of antimicrobial resistance. Livestock also provide essential animal proteins that are vital in combating malnutrition. Considering that 60% of all human diseases are zoonotic, preventing illness in animals is a critical front-line defense for human population. Global, coordinated vaccine campaigns, like those targeting rabies which still claims approximately 60,000 lives annually from dog bites, exemplify how animal health interventions directly contribute to human wellbeing.
- SDG 12: Responsible Consumption & Production & SDG 13: Climate Action: Unhealthy animals can lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions, imposing an adverse environmental impact. Conversely, healthier animals have a significantly smaller environmental footprint. Animal health is, therefore, a non-negotiable prerequisite for truly sustainable livestock production. Vaccines, in particular, are recognized as a powerful tool to reduce the environmental impact of livestock operations. Healthy, disease-free animals process feed more efficiently and are more productive, meaning fewer animals are required to meet consumer demand. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has explicitly identified vaccines as a technology with “a strong potential to reduce emissions.” Furthermore, livestock and pet vaccination help limit the spread of diseases to wildlife, thereby offering broader protection to the entire ecosystem.
Embracing the One Health Approach
To effectively navigate the significant challenges ahead and realize the ambitious SDGs, our world must fully embrace and integrate the pivotal role of animals. Outbreaks of livestock disease can cripple the production of essential meat, milk, and eggs, leading to critical shortages of nutrient-rich foods. Our collective future is inextricably linked with the health of animals and the environment. This profound interconnectedness—where people, animals, and the environment share “One Health” and what affects one invariably affects the others—underscores why enhancing animal health is not just beneficial, but absolutely essential to strengthen our global efforts to achieve the key Sustainable Development Goals. It’s a holistic perspective that offers the most robust pathway to a truly sustainable future.
