Showcase animal health as a critical scientific and policy foundation for operationalizing One Health and tackling climate challenges in LMICs and beyond.
Highlight scientific evidence and practical livestock systems innovations that link climate adaptation, mitigation and healthy lives.
Advocate for increased investment in livestock health systems, surveillance infrastructure, and veterinary services—especially where the need is greatest.
In an era of mounting infectious disease threats from COVID-19, mpox to avian influenza and more, there is growing recognition that human, animal and environmental health are inextricably linked. Nearly 75% of emerging infectious diseases originate in animals, including livestock, underscoring the urgent need for a more integrated, preventive and sustainable approach to global health.
This is compounded by climate change which is reshaping the health landscape for animals, humans, and ecosystems. Rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, and extreme weather events are altering the distribution and prevalence of vector-borne and zoonotic diseases. Heat stress and shifting ecosystems increase livestock vulnerability to diseases such as Rift Valley fever and trypanosomiasis. Climate change also exacerbates antimicrobial resistance (AMR), as poor animal health and production stressors can drive misuse of veterinary drugs. At the same time, animal health interventions can help to mitigate climate change and healthy animals are less likely to become sick or succumb to climate change.
Science-backed interventions in animal health such as surveillance, early detection, vaccination and responsible antibiotic use are critical to stopping disease outbreaks at their source. This is especially true in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where smallholder livestock systems are central to the transformation livelihoods, nutrition, gender equality, climate resilience and environmental restoration.
In these contexts, livestock are more than food sources. They are engines of economic opportunity and social stability, supporting over 600 million smallholder farmers, most of them women. Healthier animals mean more nutritious and safer food, higher incomes, reduced environmental impact and a lower risk of zoonotic spillover – outcomes that are fundamental to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The One Health approach offers a coherent framework to tackle these interconnected challenges. By linking veterinary, human and environmental expertise, it enables smarter, more resilient health systems. When implemented effectively, One Health delivers real returns: every $1 invested generates up to $3 in health and economic benefits.
Yet despite its promise, implementation of animal health interventions remain fragmented and underfunded especially in LMICs. This session will spotlight the science, evidence, and innovation needed to mainstream One Health by placing animal health centrally in e climate smart food systems transformation agenda, grounded in robust research, integrated data systems, and locally relevant solutions.
