Veterinary epidemiology was first taken up by the International Laboratory on Research on Animal Diseases (ILRAD), ILRI’s predecessor, in 1987 and initially focussed on justifying vaccine development for East Coast fever (ECF) and trypanosomiasis. However, responding to the needs of different countries, donors and international organisations, the role progressively evolved into impact assessments of a wide range of diseases, including foot and mouth disease (FMD), rinderpest, rabies, Rift Valley fever (RVF) and highly pathogenic avian influenza.
As a result of this work, methodologies and approaches have been developed and used all over the world and a cadre of trained epidemiologists are now serving different institutional needs in Europe Africa, Asia, Australia, and Latin America.
Download a brief that illustrates how ILRI’s integration of epidemiology with agricultural economics and other social sciences has offered a unique approach for assessing the economic impact of animal disease, and for evaluating the implications of intervention options, whether at farm, national or global level.
ILRI BioSciences 