Hundreds of millions of livestock in low-income countries receive minimal veterinary care — improving access to basic animal health services is both a welfare and development priority.
Global animal welfare equity requires acknowledging that billions of livestock in low-income countries experience preventable suffering from conditions that are routinely treated in wealthy countries. The veterinary access gap is not merely an economic problem — it is a welfare problem. Animals with treatable foot-and-mouth disease infections, parasitic infestations, or reproductive problems suffer needlessly when veterinary services are inaccessible or unaffordable. Improving veterinary access in low-income countries simultaneously improves animal welfare, household livelihoods, food security, and zoonotic disease prevention. International development programs that include animal health components deliver welfare benefits alongside economic development outcomes.