JOINT CALL: Make animal disease prevention a strategic investment for Europe

Brussels, 24 November 2025; Partners in the animal sector have come together to call for an urgent mindset change and to make animal disease prevention a strategic investment for the EU and beyond. With the devastating animal disease outbreaks increasing in frequency and severity over recent years, momentum is growing to move to a system where biosecurity, vaccination, animal feeding and breeding strategies to enhance resilience, and surveillance for early detection are the first port of call for disease preparedness, prevention and control, and mass culling is the last resort.

Our call aligns with recommendations from the European Parliament1 and the European Council2, and with the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)3 at the global level, who have all called for urgent changes to current animal disease control practices. The WOAH resolution published in May 2025 urges increased transparency, harmonised

standards, and stronger public-private partnerships to improve vaccine access, particularly in line with the UN Political Declaration on AMR, which calls for national animal vaccination strategies by 20304.

Between 2023 and 2025 WOAH reports that 547 million poultry were lost due to HPAI5. And in 2025, a single case of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in buffalo cost the German economy an estimated €1 billion6 in both direct disease control costs and indirect costs through trade restrictions. This does not need to be the norm as animal disease outbreaks don’t only cause additional work to manage the disease, they also completely disrupt the day-to-day activities of farming communities.

Not all animal diseases are preventable, but when solutions exist such as vaccines to prevent disease and avoid animal culling, their use and implementation should not be hindered by political or trade related barriers.

With this in mind we call for the EU to:

  • Prioritise investment in preventive measures, and ensure harmonised and adequately funded national disease surveillance, control and vaccination strategies and encourage development and access to nutritional solutions to support animal resilience, and breeding for robustness and disease resistance.
  • Strengthen veterinary services and ensure Animal Health Law7 visits are properly implemented across all Member States, as a vital tool for implementing preventive measures such as biosecurity, surveillance, feeding strategies and vaccination planning.
  • Foster vaccine innovation and availability, including DIVA-compatible vaccines, supported by regular dialogue between manufacturers and the authorities.
  • Promote international acceptance of preventive vaccination, ensure policies keep pace with innovation, and encourage use of the status ‘disease-free with vaccination’ to reduce trade barriers.
  • Replace—where possible—mass culling with biosecurity, surveillance for early detection and specifically vaccination, as the cornerstones of animal disease prevention and control.

Farmers, veterinarians, breeders, livestock traders, feed manufacturers, animal health and sanitary experts, and the animal medicines and diagnostics sector all agree that investing in preventive care offers a smarter, more sustainable solution for the European farming model. Working together on these actions with the authorities, we can safeguard

animal and human health, protect our farming communities and economies, and ensure sustainable food production. We need to enable and incentivise the full use of the available tools and make animal disease prevention a strategic investment for the EU and Europe as a whole for the ‘prevention is better than cure’ edict to become reality in practice.

Moving from a reactive approach in animal disease control to a preventive approach is a necessary paradigm shift, in line with the global One Health approach, which aims to address the full spectrum of disease control – from disease prevention to detection, preparedness, response, and management – and to improve and promote health and sustainability.8

Signatories:

  • Access Vet Med
  • AnimalhealthEurope
  • AVEC
  • CEJA
  • Copa Cogeca
  • Diagnostics for Animals
  • EFFAB
  • Euro Foie Gras
  • FEAP
  • FEFAC
  • FEFANA
  • FurEurope
  • FVE
  • UECBV

NB: This is not an official EPRUMA statement. Several partners are signatories.

 

References:

  1. European Parliament COM AGRI draft report on how to secure a sustainable future for the EU livestock sector in light of the need to ensure food security, farmers’ resilience and the challenges posed by animal diseases? (2025/2053(INI)
  2. Belgian Presidency of the EU Council (Ministerial Conference on Animal Diseases, Jan 2024) and the Agriculture and Fisheries Council of October 2024 and May 2025
  3. WOAH resolution on vaccination, May 2025
  4. UN Political Declaration on AMR calling for national animal vaccination strategies by 2030
  5. WOAH: https://www.woah.org/app/uploads/2024/10/hpai-report-63.pdf
  6. https://www.br.de/nachrichten/deutschland-welt/maul-und-klauenseuche-eine-milliarde-euro-verlust-geschaetzt,Ua3Q0F8
  7. EU: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/429/2019-12-14
  8. OHHLEP: https://www.who.int/news/item/01-12-2021-tripartite-and-unep-support-ohhlep-s-definition-of-one-health