Jonathan Rushton
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Jonathan is a Senior Lecturer in Animal Health Economics and a member of the Veterinary Epidemiology and Public Health Group. His work focuses on improving the wellbeing of people and animals through better resource allocation to animal health, disease and welfare problems.
Biography
My background is in agricultural economics with a strong specialisation in the economics of animal health and livestock production. This interest was born at an early stage (from the age of seven!) working on the family dairy farm, milking cows, helping keep records of inputs and milk production and getting involved in the farm-level issues of general animal health and the bigger issues of ridding the farm of brucellosis and warble fly.
My first degree was in Natural Sciences at Cambridge University specialising in animal production and nutrition. My Masters in agricultural economics at the University of Reading was a two year course and involved a year's research at the Institute for Veterinary Biologicals and Animal Health in Bangalore, India. My research focussed on the smallholder dairy sector and the impact of endemic and contagious diseases in this region. I first saw foot and mouth disease, rinderpest and anthrax during this time. My time in India was initiated by Peter Ellis, and he and his wife supervised and inspired me during my year overseas. Their mentoring role has continued during my professional career.
On completion of my Masters I joined the Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics Research Unit (VEERU), University of Reading as a research fellow under the supervision of Andrew James. I developed and taught a livestock economics course on VEERU’s MSc programme and carried out animal health economics consultancies in Portugal, Turkey, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. I also completed my doctorate on the role of livestock in mixed farming systems of India and Kenya developing household and herd simulation models from the field data collected and this was examined by Alt Dijkhuizen.
In 1997 I joined a DFID funded epidemiology and disease surveillance project in Bolivia as the livestock economist. Over a period of three years the project made assessments of the livestock and marketing systems, the impact of the major livestock diseases and developed a strong surveillance network through the use of both formal and participatory methods. I learnt much in this time, particularly the need to collaborate with people in the livestock sector to implement livestock and animal health programmes. At the end of project in 2001, I established a consultancy company in La Paz, Bolivia implementing projects on livestock development and animal health both in Bolivia, in the Latin American region, Africa, UK and Nepal. I worked with a range of organisations such as FAO, EU, DFID, IICA, ILRI, DANIDA, GTZ and USAID.
In 2006 I joined FAO in Rome, Italy and became part of a global team dealing with the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 threats. In my first year I spent considerable time and effort on the problems that Egypt faced with HPAI, and in the second year I took responsibility for the global FAO programme on socio-economics work for HPAI. The latter involved many visits to the Asia region providing inputs on the impact of HPAI, cost-effectiveness of surveillance and vaccination and the use of value chain analysis to refine and improve risk assessments.
I joined the Veterinary Epidemiology and Public Health Group at RVC in February 2009.
Research
I am involved in directing the College’s research in the use of economic concepts, methods and analysis in order to improve allocation of resources to animal health, welfare and disease problems. My main objective of this work is to improve the welfare of pet owners, livestock producers, people involved in the livestock sector and of course the millions of consumers who depend on livestock products each day. In general I feel that while economics has made some contributions to animal health there are other areas where it needs to reconsider its role and improve methods available to animal health professionals. The general areas of research that I am pursuing are:
- Use of cost-effectiveness analysis during the implementation of animal health and welfare actions
- Impact assessments of diseases and animal health across the food supply chains
- Use of economics and behavioural sciences to refine and improve risk analysis
I am trying to strengthen the research in these areas by developing forums for discussion between researchers, policy makers and implementers of animal health economics. The College hopes to develop a centre for animal health economics where there is improved sharing of new ideas, and discussions on the problems of developing economic concepts, tools and methods in the improvement of resource allocation to animal health and diseases.
I am currently involved in the following specific projects:
- HPAI risk management strategies for cross border trade in the Mekong region – funded by FAO
- Combining value chain and risk analysis to improve HPAI control in Vietnam - University of Reading/Wellcome Trust
- Cost-benefit analysis of salmonella control in pigs in the EU – Funded by the European Commission and coordinated and management by FCC.
- Southern Africa Centre for Infectious Diseases – development of national and regional animal and human health capacities – funded by Rockefeller Foundation and Wellcome Trust
I also am involved in the development of the following projects and ideas:
- With the London International Development Centre I have been involved in the development of a proposal on Agrihealth. This is a concept that moves beyond One World One Health, it examines how our food chains are functioning and asking whether their current and predicted evolution is helping us to improve human health. The idea is to stop problems in the food chain before they manifest themselves in the human population causing the need for expensive reactive solutions – in brief it is about prevention rather than cure. A proposal has been submitted and awaiting a decision with the Leverhulme Trust
- With the Institute for Animal Health a proposal has been written of the modelling of foot-and-mouth disease and how this will help in developing improved control strategies.
Teaching
I am responsible for animal health economics teaching on under and post graduate courses. In 2010 I will be the leader of the animal health economics module for post graduate students. This is a core module of the College’s Veterinary Epidemiology and Control in Infectious Diseases in Animals MSc courses, and is also a stand alone course for people wanting to improve their knowledge and skills in animal health economics.
Since 2002 I have been involved in the College’s Distance learning courses developing material on animal health economics, data collection and policy. I am currently an examiner on these courses.
Over the last ten years I have run short courses on animal health economics in Portugal, Turkey, Uruguay, Armenia and for the Central Asian countries.
Selected Publications
Rushton, J.; Viscarra, R.E.; Taylor, N.; Hoffman, I. & Schwabenbauer, K. (Accepted) Poultry Sector Development, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza and the Smallholder Production Systems. World Journal Poultry Science
Albrechtsen,L; Saade, M.; Riviere, A. & Rushton, J. (Accepted) Proactive Engagement in Compensation and Rehabilitation Policy Formulation and Implementation: The Case of HPAI in Egypt. World Journal Poultry Science
Alders, R.G.; Pym, R.A.E. & Rushton, J. (Accepted) Report on the Family Poultry Workshop held during the XXIII World’s Poultry Congress. World Journal Poultry Science
Leibler, J.H.; Otte, M.J.; Roland-Holst, D.; Pfeiffer, D.U.; Soares Magalhaes, R.; Rushton, J.; Graham, J.P.; Silbergeld, E.K. (2009) Industrial Food Animal Production and Global Health Risks: Exploring the Ecosystems and Economics of Avian Influenza. Ecohealth
Rushton, J.; Kalpravidh, W.; Marshall, E.; de Haan, N.; Ankers, P.; Taylor, N.M.; Martin, V.; Fusheng, G.; Castellan, D.; Morzaria, S.; Domenech, J. (2009) Cross border trade and HPAI risk reduction in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region. Proceedings of the International Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics 10-14 August 2009.
Viscarra, R.E.; Lai Thi Kim Lan; Tran Anh Tuan; Rushton, J.; Taylor, N.M. (2009) How effective can primary school children be in improving producers’ knowledge of animal diseases? The case of HPAI in Viet Nam. Proceedings of the International Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics 10-14 August 2009.
De Haan, N.; Rushton, J. (2009) Animal Health Planning and People – the need for a partnership between veterinarians and social sciences. Proceedings of the International Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics 10-14 August 2009.
Schwabenbauer, K.; Besbes, B. De Haan, N.; Thieme, O.; Rushton, J. (2009) Animal Disease Control – A Multidisciplinary Task. Proceedings of the International Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics 10-14 August 2009.
Hinrichs, J.; Otte, M.J.; Rushton, J. (2009) Epidemiological and Economic Implications of HPAI Vaccination in Developing Countries. Proceedings of the International Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics 10-14 August 2009.
Rushton, J.; Pinto, J.; Taylor, N.M. (2009) Linking value chain analysis with epidemiological risk analysis to improve disease prevention and control interventions. Proceedings of the International Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics 10-14 August 2009.
Taylor, N.M.; Romero Barrios, P.; Rushton, J. (2009) A critical assessment of cost-effectiveness of surveillance using HPAI H5N1 as an example. Proceedings of the International Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics 10-14 August 2009.
Rushton, J. (2009) The Economics of Animal Health and Production. Foreward by Peter Ellis with contributions from Andrew James, Alexandra Shaw, David Leonard, Clem Tisdell, Joachim Otte, Alistair Stott, Hernan Rojas, Pascal Bonnet, C. Devendra, Liz Redmond, Harvey Beck, Ugo Pica-Ciamarra, Matthieu Lesnoff, Vinod Ahuja & Martin Upton. CABI Publishing, Wallingford, UK. Pages 364
Rushton, J. (2008) Economic Aspects of Foot and Mouth Disease in Bolivia. OIE Revue Scientifique et Technique. 27 (3) pp 759-769
Otte, M.J.; Hinrichs, J.; Rushton, J.; Roland-Holst, D. & Zilberman D. (2008) Impacts of avian influenza virus on animal production in developing countries Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Nutrition and Natural Resources, CABI. 2008 3 No. 080
McLeod, A., Rushton, J., Riviere-Cinnamond, A., Brandenburg, B. & Loth, L. (2008) Economic issues in vaccination against HPAI in developing countries. In the proceedings of “Vaccination: a tool for the control of avian influenza” organised by OIE/FAO/IZVe International Association for Biologicals, Switzerland
Alders, R., Bagnol, B., Young, M., Ahlers, C., Brum, E. & Rushton, J. (2008) Challenges and constraints to vaccination in developing countries. In the proceedings of “Vaccination: a tool for the control of avian influenza” organised by OIE/FAO/IZVe International Association for Biologicals, Switzerland
Rushton, J., Viscarra, R.E., Otte, J., McLeod, A. & Taylor, N. (2007) Animal Health Economics. Where have we come from and where do we go next? Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Nutrition and Natural Resources, CABI. 2007 1 No. 031
McLeod, A. & Rushton, J. (2007) Economics of Animal Vaccination. OIE Revue Scientifique et Technique. 26(2) pp 313-326
Rushton, J.; McLeod, A. & Lubroth, J. (2006) Managing transboundary animal disease. World Livestock, FAO, Rome, Italy. pp 29-44 Rushton, J. (2006) Animal Health Systems and Status – Are they trade barriers or mechanisms to improve global animal disease control? In the proceedings of the International Agricultural Trade and Research Consortium summer symposium held in Bonn, Germany 28-30 May, 2006
Rushton, J., Viscarra, R.E. & Paz, R. (2006) Desarrollando soluciones a las demandas de los productores ganaderos en zonas pobres y aisladas. Las experiencias del proyecto CALL en Bolivia. In the proceedings of “Agricultura, Pobreza y Crecimiento Económico” a conference held in Santiago, Chile on 26th and 27th September, 2005
Rushton, J., Upton, M., Ayala, G.; Velasco, R. (2006) Balancing active and passive policies for the prevention of transboundary diseases. Proceedings of the International Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics 6-11 August 2006
Viscarra, R.E., Chipana, O.; Rushton, J. (2006) Identifying and meeting the veterinary education needs of poor isolated communities in Bolivia. Proceedings of the International Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics 6-11 August 2006.
Rushton, J. & Upton, M. (2006) Investment in prevention & preparedness in facing biological emergencies and disasters: social & economic costs of disasters versus costs of surveillance & response preparedness. OIE Revue Scientifique et Technique. 25(1) pp 375-388
Rushton, J. & Viscarra, R.E. (2005) Meeting the needs of poor, marginalised livestock keeping families – Concerted Action on Livestock and Livelihoods (CALL) project in Boluvia. In editors Rowlinson, P., Wachirapakorn, C., Pakdee, P. & Wanapat, M. Proceedings of “Integrating Livestock-Crop Systems to Meet the Challenges of Globalisation” Vol 2. AHAT/BSAS International Conference November 14-18, 2005, Khon Kaen, Thailand. pp T40
Rushton, J., Viscarra, R.E., Guerne Bleiche, E. and Mcleod, A. (2005) Impact of avian influenza outbreaks in the poultry sectors of five South East Asian countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Thailand, Viet Nam) outbreak costs, responses and potential long term control. World Journal Poultry Science. 61 (3) pp 491-514
Upton, M.; Mbogoh, S. & Rushton, J. (2005) Marketing to promote trade and development. In (editors) Owen, E., Kitalyi, A., Jayasuriya, N. & Smith, T. “Livestock and Wealth Creation. Improving the husbandry of animals kept by resource-poor people in developing countries”. Nottingham University Press, Nottingham, UK. pp 127-144
Rushton, J.; Sckreckenberg, K.; Marshall, E. and Arancibia, E. (2005) Promoting the Benefits of Non-Timber Forest Product Commercialisation for the Forest-based Poor in Bolivia. Overseas Development Institute Policy Briefing. ODI, London, UK.
Willem te Velde, D.; Rushton, J.; Sckreckenberg, K.; Marshall, E.; Edouardo, F.; Newton, A. and Arancibia, E. (2005) Entrepreneurship in value chains of non-timber forest products. J. of Forest Policy and Economics
Field, C.; Rushton, J. & Viscarra, R. (2005) African and South American Camelids. In (editors) Owen, E., Kitalyi, A., Jayasuriya, N. & Smith, T. “Livestock and Wealth Creation. Improving the husbandry of animals kept by resource-poor people in developing countries”. Nottingham University Press, Nottingham, UK. pp 411-432
Rushton, J.; Viscarra, R.E.; Viscarra, R.C.; Basset, F.; Baptista, R. and Brown, D. (2005) How Important is Bushmeat Consumption in South America Now and in the Future?. Overseas Development Institute Wildlife Policy Briefing. ODI, London, UK.
Rushton, J.; Viscarra, R.E.; Viscarra, R.C.; Basset, F.; Baptista, R.; Huallata, C. and Brown, D. (2004) Captive breeding of wild species – a sceptical view of the prospects. Overseas Development Institute Wildlife Policy Briefing No. 9. ODI, London, UK
Anderson, S; Rushton, J.; Tulachan, P.; Staal, S.; Herrero, M. (2004) A comparative analysis of milk sectors - Nairobi, Kathmandu, Santa Cruz: Opportunities for pro-poor policies. In “Responding to the Livestock Revolution. The role of globalisation and implications for poverty alleviation” Edited by Owen, E.; Smith, T.; Steele, M.A.; Anderson, S.; Duncan, A.J.; Herrero, M.; Leaver, J.D.; Reynolds. C.K.; Richards, J.I.; Ku-Vera, J.C. BSAS Publication 33. pp 333-346