Economic principles for resource allocation decisions at national level to mitigate the effects of disease in farm animal populations

• Published in: Epidemiology and infection Vol. 141; no. 1; pp. 91 - 101
• Main Authors: HOWE, K. S., HÄSLER, B., STÄRK, K. D. C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Cambridge University Press 01.01.2013
• Subjects: Agricultural production; Animal diseases; Animal Diseases - economics; Animal Diseases - epidemiology; Animal Diseases - prevention & control; Animals; Animals, Domestic; Biological and medical sciences; Commercial production; Decision making; Economic benefits; Economic costs; Economic efficiency; Economic research; Economic value; Economics; Epidemics; Epidemiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Health Policy; Microbiology; Original Papers; Resource Allocation - economics; Resource Allocation - standards; Sentinel Surveillance - veterinary; Surveillance; United Kingdom - epidemiology; Values; Veterinary Medicine - economics; Veterinary Medicine - standards; Zoonoses; Zoonoses and Animal Infections; Epidemiology
• ISSN: 0950-2688; 1469-4409
• DOI: 10.1017/S095026881200060X

This paper originated in a project to develop a practical, generic tool for the economic evaluation of surveillance for farm animal diseases at national level by a state veterinary service. Fundamental to that process is integration of epidemiological and economic perspectives. Using a generalized example of epidemic disease, we show that an epidemic curve maps into its economic equivalent, a disease mitigation function, that traces the relationship between value losses avoided and mitigation resources expended. Crucially, elementary economic principles show that mitigation, defined as loss reduction achieved by surveillance and intervention, must be explicitly conceptualized as a three-variable process, and the relative contributions of surveillance and intervention resources investigated with regard to the substitution possibilities between them. Modelling the resultant mitigation surfaces for different diseases should become a standard approach to animal health policy analysis for economic efficiency, a contribution to the evolving agenda for animal health economics research.