A collaborating centre on animal health economics for the Americas

Countries in the Americas play a vital role in global livestock and aquaculture production. With international trade of livestock and aquaculture products becoming an important source of income for countries, there has been an increased interest in using animal health economics for advocacy and allocation of resources. This paper focuses on discussing: 1) the development of a new Collaborating Centre for the Economics of Animal Health and 2) the applications of the Global Burden of Animal Diseases (GBADs) framework in the Americas region. Incentives for the increased use of economics in animal health decision making and examples in the Americas region are examined. We then discuss the newly formed World Organisation for Animal Health Collaborating Centre in the Americas region. Finally, we review two on going case studies that are implementing the GBADs framework in Peru and the United States of America.