Food Security for a Growing Population Worldwide

NEAH Was Founded to Contribute to the Solution

The 2023 annual report from the World Health Organization,  The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, clearly articulates the continued challenge of feeding a world where approximately 735 million people experienced hunger and the prevalence of undernourishment affecting 9.2 percent of the world population.

Key drivers for food security are accessibility, availability, nutritional value and stability. The global sustainability of these factors are threatened by climate change. Small ruminants such as goats and sheep, compared to large ruminants (cattle, buffalo) are comparatively better adapted to many diverse environments with approximately 50% of the global population of sheep and goats located in the arid regions of the world.

With the world’s population estimated to grow by 30% and reach 9.7 billion people by 2050, the need for greater global, sustainable food production is of paramount importance and a focus on small ruminants is critical to addressing these needs.

There is a growing consensus that a central component of addressing the security of animal-source food production is found in responding to the underlying challenge of animal health. Healthy animals lead to enhanced productivity of meat, dairy, and eggs. As the One Health Initiative states, “human health, animal health and ecosystem health are inextricably linked”.

Numerous emerging and re-emerging domestic animal infectious diseases severely impact food animals in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). For many small stakeholders and rural communities, the threat of animal disease and loss is a persistent, unrelenting fear. It has been estimated that animal diseases reduce animal food production by more than 20% worldwide. At present, livestock and poultry support the livelihood of almost 1 billion of the world’s poorest population living in LMICs. For these people, their health and prosperity is directly tied to the health and productivity of their sheep, goats, poultry, cattle, and swine.

Any effort to address the increasing demands for animal-source food production must include a focus on reducing the underlying infectious diseases that impact animal health, well-being and productivity. One of the most economical ways to accomplish this is through the use of animal health vaccines.

At NEAH we are working to address these critical challenges by supporting researchers and scientists in animal health/vaccine R&D community and animal health stakeholders, to help develop new and/or more effective animal health vaccines.

Our Mission is to help facilitate the distribution of reliable, high quality antibodies required by the global research community to support improved animal vaccine R&D efforts.