A Review on Importance of Animal Health Economics in Decision Making

Abstract

Animal health economics is a relatively new discipline emerged during 1990s. This is becoming more and more important as an aid to decision making on animal health interventions at various levels. It concerned with quantification of economic impacts of the diseases, developing methods for optimizing decisions on animal health and determining the profitability of specific disease control and health management programmed. This paper reviews the available literature on the subject. Some authors conceive animal health economics as a discipline that makes use of concepts, procedures and data to support the decision-making process. Most of the economic benefit can be expressed in monetary terms, economic analysis of animal diseases and intervention strategies, including the efficiency and equity of veterinary interventions. Animal health economics can involve spatial time dimensions. Several basic influences on animal health are worthy of study from an economics point of view. These include genetics, the environmental conditions encountered by animals, their nutrition (including the availability to them of water and its quality) and their comfort.

Keywords: Animal health, Decision making, Economics.