Antibiotic resistance is a public health crisis linked to agricultural antibiotic use. The welfare connection — healthier animals require fewer antibiotics — makes welfare improvement a public health tool.
The antibiotic resistance-animal welfare link is one of the most compelling arguments for welfare improvement that speaks directly to human self-interest. Healthier animals — living in less stressful, less crowded, better-managed conditions — require fewer antibiotics. Reducing antibiotic use requires improving the underlying welfare conditions that drive disease. This creates an alignment between animal welfare advocates and public health advocates that has driven real policy change in some countries. The One Health framework — which treats human, animal, and environmental health as inseparable — provides the conceptual framework for this convergence.