Animal welfare improvement faces its greatest challenges in low-income contexts where animal-keeping is central to livelihoods and welfare resources are scarce.
Animal welfare in poverty contexts requires fundamentally different approaches than in high-income settings. Where families depend on animals for survival, welfare improvement must be economically compatible and culturally appropriate. The highest-impact interventions are those that simultaneously improve animal welfare and farmer livelihoods — reducing disease, improving productivity, and enabling participation in higher-value markets.