Newcastle leads £10 million research project
A sum of 11.9 million Euros has been awarded to a consortium comprising 22 academic, industry and private enterprise organisations across 11 countries, and will fund identification of new solutions to reconcile modern animal production systems and sustainability.
Launched during a meeting this week at Newcastle Univeristy, a research project - named PROHEALTH (PROduction HEALTH) - aims to address production diseases in pigs and poultry raised in a wide range of intensive systems across the EU.
The project will focus on exploring ways to increase production quality, limit environmental impact and preserve profitability for farmers, and those whose livelihood is in animal food production.
The consortium behind the project brings together a large multi-disciplinary team including ten academic partners, one European association, and four industry partners. Also involved are seven SME’s with expertise in veterinary science and epidemiology, animals physiology and immunology, socioeconomics, genetics and nutrition, as well as the welfare and production science of pigs and poultry.
This expertise is combined with a broad geographic representation, with members drawn from 11 countries. The project is therefore ideally positioned to address the scientific challenges involved, derive meaningful epidemiological data, evaluate test interventions across diverse real-world systems and propagate outcomes.
“This is a very synergistic partnership,” said Alejandro Bernal, executive vice president Zoetis Inc., the exclusive animal health company partner of the consortium.
“All parties can benefit from the combined expertise and resource of what is probably the biggest poultry and pigs research network in the world at the moment. This is a great example of a private/public initiative to advance our scientific knowledge, respond to the challenges of the future for our world and improve animal health and welfare.”
To find out more about PROHEALTH, click here.
Veterinary practices are being urged to help owners safely dispose of any unused and expired pet medicines - not just antibiotics - during November's Animal Medicines Amnesty. 
