Animal Health Forum on Avian Influenza – Policy to Action: The case of Avian Influenza – Reflections for Change

The global recurrence and spread of high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) is a worldwide threat to the poultry sector, impacting livelihoods of farmers, stakeholders and can have severe consequences for food security, biodiversity and a public health pandemic potential.

HPAI has resulted in the death and mass slaughter of more than 500 million poultry worldwide between 2005 and 2022. The mass culling of poultry incurs huge costs to government and industry, heavy economic losses for farmers generating a long-lasting impact on their livelihoods and raises societal and environmental concerns.

There is an urgent need for a better understanding of AI viruses and the drives of the current global situation to better inform control measures. It is necessary an international consensus to carry out global and regional coordinated responses involving all essential stakeholders that will lead to the reduction of the burden of avian influenza outbreaks (on domestic and wild species) through appropriate implementation of preventive and control measures, promotion of economic prosperity, ensuring food security and facilitating safe trade of poultry and poultry products while protecting public health and biodiversity.