GCC Animal Disease Control Approach | Strategy& Middle East

The GCC needs an integrated approach to control animal disease outbreaks

By Salim Ghazaly, Roger Rabbat, and Ahmed Mokhtar

Article

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the seriousness of zoonotic diseases, those passed from animals to humans, and GCC countries are no strangers to such outbreaks. In 2019, about 17% of reported global zoonotic disease outbreaks occurred in the GCC region, despite being home to only 0.6% of the global livestock population . All were far less serious than COVID-19, but that is little solace. To improve, ministries of agriculture in the region need to act in an integrated and centralized manner.

Zoonotic diseases are a growing problem, accounting for about 60% of human infectious diseases, 2.5 billion cases of illness, and 2.7 million deaths each year—even before the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the impact on humans, commerce, travel, and the wider economy, these diseases poses a substantial threat to food security, reducing global annual animal production by about 20% according to estimates. Urbanization, global warming, and other trends will likely increase the number and impact of zoonotic diseases. The problem is significant in the GCC because of its legacy of herding and the need to sacrifice millions of livestock each year. Those conditions, combined with basic animal disease control systems and processes, create an environment that is conducive to future outbreaks.

Governments in the region can take a big step forward by creating an interdisciplinary and cross-sector approach to predict, detect, control, and combat zoonotic diseases. The approach requires five elements.

1. Design and activate an animal disease control institutional framework

The first element is to design an institutional framework and get it operating. Agriculture ministries need to establish a dedicated animal disease control (ADC) body, which can supervise and implement all animal health and welfare policies and oversee the response effort during outbreaks. The ADC body should be led by an autonomous chief veterinary officer. It should include consultative committees with other government entities, such as ministries of health, municipalities, and other authorities, to coordinate emergency plans and respond to outbreaks.

GCC governments need an integrated approach to anticipate and head off future zoonotic pandemics. In this way, GCC governments can become more effective at animal disease control and can mitigate any risk of another pandemic.

This article originally appeared in Gulf Business, May 2020.

About the authors

Salim Ghazaly and Roger Rabbat are partners, and Ahmed Mokhtar is a principal with Strategy& Middle East, part of the PwC network. 

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Salim Ghazaly

Salim Ghazaly

Partner, Strategy& Middle East

Roger Rabbat

Roger Rabbat

Partner, Strategy& Middle East

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