Cost effectiveness of poultry vaccination for control of H9N2 avian influenza in Pakistan

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H9N2 is endemic in poultry in Pakistan and for the last 16 years vaccines have been employed to reduce production losses. The virus remains endemic and vaccination programmes face numerous technical challenges, including optimal vaccine virus strain selection to accommodate the diversity of co-circulating virus variants, and strategic questions regarding risk-based targeted vaccination where disease is more prevalent.This PhD research project companion the ZELS research programme between UK, Vietnam and Pakistan (http://combating-avian-influenza.com/) will address ongoing needs for systematic antigenic matching of H9N2 vaccine formulations to field variants, and design of novel H9N2 viral vectored vaccines and diagnostics. The proposed PhD project will build on this framework to investigate the complex socio-economic factors that contribute to the success or failure of vaccine interventions.The project will develop models on AIV vaccine use and the scale and frequency of disease outbreaks inflecting overall economic losses in poultry production in Pakistan. The outcome of this research project will help to develop disease control strategies for sustainable growth of poultry production. Reduction in disease-related loses will directly improve socio-economic wellbeing of poultry farming communities.The project will be conducted within the larger framework of a Zoonoses and Emerging Livestock Systems (ZELS) project, which aims to develop novel H5 and H9 influenza vaccines tailored to the circulating variants in Vietnam and Pakistan.