European Partnerships under Horizon Europe - Partnership on Animal Health and Welfare

In the autumn of 2020 and the spring of 2021 Directorate General Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI) as the lead DG, together with the chair of the SCAR Collaborative Working Group on Animal Health and Welfare Research (CWG AHW1) set up a core group and working groups with European experts and in which the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA2), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OI. [...] The impact of global change on the availability, quality and temperature of bodies of water can affect terrestrial and aquatic production by, for example, influencing the biology and transmission dynamics and paths of the pathogens of farmed animals. [...] Scientific work on animal welfare evolves and a better understanding of animal welfare and welfare needs of animals will lead to an adaptation of housing systems and management practices and will contribute to responses to animal needs, and the societal and political demands in this field. [...] In response to the ‘End the Cage Age’ European Citizens’ Initiative46 (ECA) and to the demand for a transition to more ethical and sustainable farming systems, the Commission intends to put forward a legislative proposal by the end of 2023 to phase out and finally prohibit the use of cages for all the animal species and categories referred to in ECA47. [...] In preventing the appearance or the extension of diseases, vaccination of animals is often the most cost-efficient applicable measure and can be an important tool to reduce the burden of diseases and reduce the use of antimicrobials.