The European Commission (EC) is to commit the equivalent of more than £142 million to fight animal diseases and zoonoses this year, including agreeing an increased budget to combat African Swine Fever (ASF).
The new funding is designed to “help national authorities” in the Member States to identify and act against outbreaks that can have a serious impact on human health, animal health, economy and trade.
In the animal health area, €150m (£129m) is being awarded to support the eradication, control and surveillance for 131 programmes dealing with Bovine Tuberculosis, Rabies, Salmonellosis, Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies and Bovine Brucellosis.
In addition, €9.5m (£8.2m) has been allocated to tackle ASF in 2017. This is an increase of more than a €2m (£1.72m) compared to 2016.