Strengthening Health Infrastructure for Livestock Disease Control

pipeline

Prospective

1. Introduction: The Government of India is focusing on strengthening the core capacity of animal health system in India, including upgrading existing veterinary infrastructure such as diagnostic laboratories and facilities, veterinary hospitals and dispensaries, strengthening surveillance and disease reporting capacity, building capacity at community level and One Health coordination capacity. Strengthening Health Infrastructure for Livestock Disease Control Program (SHIELD) will be a subset of the larger government program and contribute to the overarching government Livestock Disease Control program (LHDCP) and will be implemented by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying for over five years (2026-2031) as a 100 percent centrally sponsored national program. The overall LHDCP size is US$1.3 billion, of which the SHIELD Program boundary is US$162 million, to which the PforR will contribute US$81.123 million.2. Government Program: The DAHD is implementing an overarching animal health management program, namely the Livestock Health and Disease Control Program (LHDCP) for the period 2026-2031. The key objectives of the LHDCP are to maintain a healthy, disease-free livestock population, and control animal diseases including zoonotic diseases. The program contributes directly to India’s Viksit Bharat agenda through its contribution to farmer incomes, employment generation and entrepreneurship by improving animal health, and increasing livestock productivity and production. In addition, controlling zoonoses and increasing the capacity of disease management directly contributes to reducing the threat of future pandemics and related shocks. 3. The program consists of the following components (i) Critical Animal Disease Control Programme (CADCP) to control of Classical Swine Fever and Peste des Petits Ruminants; (ii) Establishment and Strengthening of Veterinary Hospitals, Dispensaries and Mobile Veterinary Units (ESVHD) to support operationalizations of Mobile Veterinary Units; (iii) Assistance to States for Control of Animal Diseases (ASCAD) that support surveillance and monitoring support important livestock and poultry diseases, vaccination of economically important animal diseases (livestock and poultry), control of emerging and exotic diseases, strengthening the Veterinary Council of India; (iv) National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP) to support vaccination against priority livestock such as Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), Brucellosis, Classica Swine Fever (CSF) and Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), and (v) National Digital Livestock Mission (NDLM) to support disease reporting, surveillance and (vi) Programme for Strengthening Health Infrastructure for Livestock Disease Control (SHIELD) focusing on improving district and state diagnostic facilities, block level veterinary hospitals and capacity building of veterinary institutions (to which World Bank SHIELD project will contribute).4. The government program has achieved significant results. Achievements include the vaccination of 1,391.72 million vaccinations against FMD covering around 316.5 million animals and the declaration of FMD-free zones in three states; immunization against other economically important diseases (Brucellosis, PPR, CSF and Lumpy Skin Diseases), and the initiation of a control program for classical swine fever in the northeastern regions. However, these achievements are constrained by various factors including poor diagnostic and surveillance capacity, veterinary human resource shortfall, poor disease reporting and surveillance, insufficient investment at community level to improve disease reporting and risks management. 5. The proposed PforR aims to support the government in implementing selected elements of the LHDCP, focusing on building system capacity for animal health management in an integrated, outcome-focused manner, as well as using a decentralized approach to strengthen disease surveillance at community level, enabling early disease detection, containment and strengthening the livestock economy. The Program will support subsets of the ASCAD, NDLM and SHIELD, and other areas of support will be refined during program preparation. In particular, the PforR will focus on strengthening the core capacity of animal health management, strengthen critical surveillance infrastructure, support community level awareness and training of veterinary professionals in all States and UTs to better prevent, detect and control animal disease outbreaks.6. The indicative expenditure framework for the overarching LHDCP government program (p”) for fiscal years 2026 to 2031 is US$1.3 billion. The Program (“P”), which forms part of the broader government program (“p”), has a defined expenditure boundary estimated at US$162 million over five years. Of this amount, the World Bank will provide US$81.123 million in financing, accounting for 50 percent of the program’s total budget. The Bank-supported PforR Program focuses on institutional capacity building, systems development to enhance disease diagnostic and surveillance, improving the quality and coverage of diagnostic and veterinary services and investment at community level for increasing awareness on good practices, disease reporting, risk management and One Health coordination. The PforR Program will exclude civil works related to the construction of new facilities, and procurement of vaccines. Civil works under the Program will include renovations and upgrading of existing physical infrastructure (e.g., veterinary hospitals, veterinary dispensaries, laboratories).7. CPF Alignment: The proposed Program aligns directly with the India Country Partnership Framework (FY26–31) through the following outcome areas: (1) Rural Resilience and Prosperity and Investing in People for Jobs-ready Workforce. It contributes to CPF Outcome 1 on “Fostering prosperity and resilience for better opportunities in rural areas” through improving (i) infrastructure of veterinary services and diagnostic infrastructure critical to animal disease management and prevention which contributes to livestock production and productivity; (ii) supporting digital innovations to veterinary services and advisory service delivery, especially for rural households in remote areas. In addition, through (2) Outcome 3 on “Investing in people, for job ready workforce” through upgrading skills and strengthening health”. The program will support training and upskilling of livestock farmers on good animal husbandry practices, staff of identified livestock points (including livestock markets and abattoirs) on good handling practices, to improve biosecurity measures to reduce disease risks and improve livestock productivity. In addition, the program will invest in the training and upskilling of para-veterinarians, laboratory personnel, field staff including forest department staff and livestock community extension workers. At the macro level these improvements can help increase livestock trade and improve access to disease-free animal protein.8. Jobs and Public Health: Livestock is one of India's largest rural employment generators. More than 70 percent of rural households derive some livelihood benefit from livestock, with the dairy sector alone engaging over 80 million farmers. The sector offers a major pathway for job creation, women's economic empowerment, income diversification, and rural transformation. Animal disease outbreaks can have far-reaching economic consequences beyond the livestock sector, specifically by disrupting agriculture, food processing, hospitality and manufacturing, among other sectors. Indirect costs, which are often overlooked, account for nearly half of the total losses, justifying greater public investment in disease prevention. The public health burden of zoonotic diseases can be enormous. Brucellosis, a zoonotic animal disease, is estimated to cause 11.7 Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) per 100,000 people, disproportionately affecting r

World Bank Group

Project

Manufacturing (Industrial), Government, Consumer Products, Raw Materials, Commercial