Strengthening animal production and health through the immune response

Strengthening Animal Production and Health ​​through the Immune Response (SAPHIR) is an EU funded Horizon 2020 inter-disciplinary project seeking to improve the health of farm animals (cows, pigs and chickens) by developing new vaccines for a range of common pathogens.

The project is led by Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA).

As part of SAPHIR, researchers at the School of Geography and Planning in Cardiff University are conducting social research to understand how the spread and management of SAPHIR pathogens is affected by farmers’ and vets’ own practices. The project examines the disease prevention pathways used by farmers and their motivations for implementing them, in order to answer three key questions:

1. What affects farmers’ behaviour when it comes to managing their herd’s health?
2. Why do farmers do things that run counter to veterinary advice?
3. Why do some farmers chose to vaccinate against some diseases, but others not?

Research for this project has been undertaken in the UK, Ireland, Spain, France (Corsica), Finland and China.

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This research was made possible through the support of the following organisations:

• European Commission