WP3: Predictive modelling to evaluate the epidemiological and economical efficiency of disease control strategies

We will evaluate the epidemiological and economic efficiency of prevention and control strategies at both

• the farm level (task T3a)
• the collective level (task T3b)

A limit of existing economic models in animal health is that they only account for the epidemiological situation on the farm which in turn is influenced only by farmer’s decisions. However, the farm’s infection risk can be influenced by the regional prevalence. The challenge is to develop microeconomic models to formalize farmers’ individual disease control behaviours that account for the farm status and its epidemiological environment. Moreover, as decisions impact disease prevalence at a regional scale, epidemiological and economic models should be coupled to consider the whole dimension of the problem. Furthermore, individual decisions interact, each potentially generating externalities for other actors. Economic models should be extended to the between-herd scale.