Animal Health - Contribution to Society

Merck Animal Health offers one of the broadest portfolios of innovative products and services in the animal health industry, bringing far-ranging benefits not just to animals and their owners, but also to society.

The business is focused on a diverse range of health products for animals, which:

• Help our pets to live long and healthy lives

• Prevent and treat diseases in farm animals and so help ensure a safe, wholesome and affordable food supply

• Foster more economic farm animal rearing

• Protect public health by controlling potentially serious infectious diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans

The effective prevention and treatment of a great many diseases in a wide range of species is one of the animal health industry's greatest achievements. Vaccines are used to prevent and tackle emerging infections in animals and reduce the risk of food-borne diseases in people. Other medicines can help in the event animals do become sick.

By controlling and eradicating numerous animal diseases – including many zoonotic¹  infections – animal health products make a major contribution to food safety.² And by eliminating losses caused by infections they also help to produce food more efficiently and make it more affordable.³
The continuing increase in human population, coupled with the global mobility of people and animals, means that the need for products to treat, control or eradicate infectious diseases has never been greater.⁴  We support efforts to ensure a rigorous but predictable and science-based regulatory framework for veterinary medicinal products. This framework must be applied consistently if it is to support a sustainable, innovative industry that can continue to deliver new products and technologies that meet the needs of animals, their owners and society.

________________________________________