Kontext

Infectious disease is one of the most significant constraints on animal production in Northern Ireland.  It is estimated that the UK sheep and cattle industries experience losses of more than £500 million per annum to endemic diseases and more than £290 million per year due to the 10 most common infectious diseases. Historically approaches to disease control have focused on measures to control individual diseases.  However, these approaches can become difficult to implement as additional diseases are addressed.  This can lead to farmers struggling to have resource to institute bespoke approaches to control the range of infections being considered.  Consequently, approaches to herd health and the provision of herd health plans have often failed to deliver.  However it is well recognised that a diverse range of infections have similar underlying risk factors.  By addressing the risk for one infection, farmers may be able to address risk factors for other infections. Internationally this has led to a greater emphasis on addressing common infection risks for a range of infections. Within Northern Ireland there are already substantial amounts of data gathered that are potentially valuable to assessing and measuring infection risks as well as benchmarking measures of success for any interventions implemented to mitigate those risks. However much of this data is not used nor coordinated to provide complete pictures of infection risk. This project seeks to develop an integrated approach to infection control using data that is available but under-utilised by providing farmers and their veterinary pracitioners with a digital platform to underpin bespoke advice on health risks, herd/flock health plans and medicine use.